Dilston Castle is an early to mid 15th century fortified tower house, founded by Sir William Claxton. Built against the steep escarpment formed by the Devil's Water, an earlier stone manor house was possibly founded here, by the lords of Dyvelston and Tyndale. Standing alongside a detached hall within a larger defended enclosure, is the three storey tower house, with a barrel-vaulted basement pierced by gun-loops. In the late 15th century, the Cartingtons may have added the square southern turret, with Sir George Radcliffe adding the northern four storey extension, to effect a mid 16th century L-plan tower house. In 1616, Sir Francis Radcliffe incorporate the castle in the construction of Dilston Hall, of which only the chapel and an arched entrance gate of the enclosed forecourt survives. In 1710, James Radcliffe, the third Earl of Derwentwater pulled down the Elizabethen-Jacobean house and began a Queen Anne mansion on the site but following his execution in 1715, for his part in the Jacobite Rebellion, its construction was never completed. Bestowed upon Trustees of Greenwich Hospital in 1731, the grand mansion was demolished, leaving the castle isolated. A mile north-east at Corbridge is Vicars Pele.