How a professor turned Langley Castle into a luxury hotel

Langley Castle, a 14th-century fortress in Langley-on-Tyne built in 1350, opened its doors to guests in the spring of 1986 following its purchase by American MIT professor Dr Stuart Madnick.

A friend of Dr Madnick’s had spotted an advert for the property in Country Life magazine, and while in the UK on business, he decided to visit, immediately falling in love with the castle.

Dr Stuart Madnick (centre), owner of Langley Castle and Baron of Langley since 2007, when he reunited the castle with a title stripped away by the Crown in the mid-18th Century as punishment for its owners’ Jacobite sympathies (Image: Langley Castle)

Dr Madnick said: “He had no idea what to do with it, at that point, but decided several months later.”

To celebrate its ruby anniversary, 40 community ‘knights’—individuals recognised for their dedication to charity, youth work, parish service, or the promotion of tourism in Northumberland—will be honoured at a special event at Langley Castle.

Each of the ‘knights’ has been invited to the official celebration and will be asked to ring a bell to represent each year of the castle’s 40-year journey as a hotel.

The bell toll will be announced by Hexham Town Crier, and all 40 knights will then ring their bells together in unison.

13 members of staff will be presented with long service awards during the anniversary event, with the longest-serving employee having worked at Langley Castle for 32 years.

Langley Castle has a history as a family home, army barracks, girls’ school, and a site for medieval banquets.

It spent nearly 500 years roofless and unoccupied after a fire.

Dr Madnick eventually secured the title of Baron of Langley in 2007, restoring the historical connection to the property.

In 2022, he also acquired a medieval seal belonging to either the first or second Baron of Langley, found by a metal detectorist.

The seal is now on display in the castle’s reception area.