RIDDELLS OF NEWCASTLE AND GATESHEAD.
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Scotland, in 1833; emigrated to America in 1857, and settled in Chicago,
Ill. He married Mary McGary, a native of Landford, Ireland, and has
(1873) issue four children, as follows:
Mary Riddles (1).
THIRD GENERATION.
Children of George (1).
Elizabeth Riddell (1).
William Riddell³ (2).
Ellen Riddell (2).
RIDDELLS OF NEWCASTLE AND GATESHEAD.
The Riddells of Northumberland and Durham trace their lineage back
to the same Norman ancestor as do the families of that surname in Scot-
land; indeed, they were originally one clan dwelling along the borders
between England and Scotland, the boundary in early times between the
two countries not being very well defined. From Primside, where Ger-
vase Ridel, who was head of the Roxburgh family, settled, it is only three
miles down the vale of Beaumont to the present English border, and dur-
ing the time of the first generations of this family they probably could
have lived on either side of the line without being questioned about their
allegiance. It has not been clearly ascertained at what date the ancestors
of this branch of the Ridel family established themselves in England, but
they were in early times situated at Norham* and Twizel-on-the-Tweed,
some cadets having the custody of the ancient castle at the former place.
Surtees, in his "History and Antiquities of Durham," mentions three of
NORHAM CASTLE was originally built by Ralph Flambard, in 1121. It was a
bone of contention between the English and Scotch for centuries, and was nearly
destroyed by David, King of Scots, in 1138. Cambden describes the castle as
having an outer wall of great compass, with many little towers in the angle next
the river, and within, another circular wall much stronger, in the centre whereof
rises a loftier tower." Part of the ruins have been undermined by the river, and
little remains except the great keep-tower, seventy feet high, and the double gate-
way, which led to the bridge over the ancient moat. A view of this old castle,
where the Riddells held custody, recalls the opening lines of Marmion :-
"Day set on Norham's castle steep,
And Tweed's fair river, broad and deep,
And Cheviot's mountains lone;
The battled towers, the donjon keep,
The loop-hole grates, where captives weep,
The flanking walls that round it sweep,
In yellow lustre shone.
The warriors on the turrets high,
Moving athwart the evening sky,
Seemed forms of giant hight:
Their armour, as it caught the rays,
Flashed back again the western blaze
In hues of dazzling light."
In an old history of Scotland the following relative to Norham Castle was found:
"The provisions are three great vats of salt eels, forty-four kine, three hogsheads
of salted salmon, forty quarters of grain, besides many cows, and four hundred
sheep, lying under the castle-wall nightly; but a number of the arrows wanted
feathers, and a good Fletcher (arrow-maker) was required.”
