Harbottle : Location And Topography

Harbottle lies in the upper Coquet Valley in central Northumberland, on the eastern boundary of Northumberland National Park. The modern settlement of Harbottle is located on the road that follows the River Coquet, linking small upland villages such as Barrowburn and Alwinton to the small town of Rothbury about 8km southeast of the village. 12.5km from the small market town of Rothbury, and some 15km south-east of the present Scottish border on the Cheviot Hills at Windy Gyle.

The village lies immediately to the south and south-east of the castle in what may be a palaeo-channel of the river, whose present course bends north of the castle before meandering eastwards. The castle occupies a central ridge in the broad valley floor of the Coquet some 2km after the river emerges from its highland gorge, occupying an excellent defensive position, with steep descents to the river on three sides, and commands extensive views up and down the valley, and to the north. The castle dominates one of the major medieval highways into Scotland, Clennell Street, making it a point of strategic as well as tactical importance.

A small distance to the northeast lies the hamlet of Peels separated from Harbottle by the River Coquet which bounds the village to the north. The southern extent of the Cheviot Hills start to rise to the north of the village, while to the south the settlement is overlooked by the Simonside Hills, and to the west the land rises to the Otterburn Training Area. To the east the River Coquet flows through the undulating landscape of central Northumberland, reaching the coast at Amble, after passing beneath the majestic fortifications of Warkworth.