Castle Lights

The installation of new lighting for the Castle and its nearby pedestrian footpath between Scar Top and the County Bridge has been brought about by Barnard Castle Vision and Barnard Castle Town Council in partnership with English Heritage and Durham County Council to improve the lighting of the area during evening hours.

The lampposts along the footpath have been sensitively chosen to match the existing modern heritage-style lampposts along the rest of the main street. Unlike the originals, the new white lights are more energy efficient and cost effective, and can also be winched down for repair, in keeping with the latest health and safety regulations.  An extra street light has also been introduced half way along the footpath to ensure much greater visibility along the pathway.

In addition to the pathway lights, new floodlights for the Castle have also been mounted on top of the new street lighting columns, replacing an aged ground-based lighting system which previously ran around the edge of the Castle.

The new floodlights are highly energy-efficient and very low maintenance, with each light being made up of 36 one watt LEDs and controllable in both direction and colour. They are used to light the Castle during evening hours only, and in order to save electricity, are turned off each night during the early hours. The footpath lights, however, are to remain illuminated throughout all hours of darkness.

The new floodlighting for the castle was launched at an evening event in March 2010.