Bamburgh, Coastal village on the North Sea in Northumberland, England
Bamburgh is a village on the North Sea coast in Northumberland county in northeast England. The settlement stretches along a long sandy beach, while above it on a dark basalt outcrop sits a large castle that shapes the entire village skyline.
The settlement began as a Celtic-British fortress called Din Guarie around the year 420 and became the capital of the kingdom of Bernicia until about 547. King Aidan founded a church outside the castle walls in the 7th century, turning the village into a religious center.
The name comes from Anglo-Saxon King Bebba, whose wooden fortress stood here in the 6th century and was later replaced with stone walls. Locals use the beach year-round for walks and watch seabirds along the dunes.
Several footpaths lead from the village to the beach and along the coast, though some sections become harder to walk during high tide. The village offers accommodation and restaurants within walking distance of the castle grounds.
Archaeologists found remains of 110 people from the 7th and 8th centuries in the Bowl Hole graveyard below the castle between 1998 and 2007. This discovery shows how important the site was for early Christian burials in northern England.
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