William Armstrong: Romantic Engineer

William Armstrong, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) - scientist, inventor, industrialist - is best known today as the brains behind Cragside in Northumberland, where he collaborated with Richard Norman Shaw to create 'the place where modern living began'.

Armstrong was a hard-headed engineer and businessman, but he also had an intensely romantic side - and this mixture of realism and romance is evident in all the buildings, structures and landscapes closely associated with him.

Henrietta Heald, author of William Armstrong, Magician of the North, explained how the two sides of Armstrong's character are reflected not only in the triumph of Cragside but also in the creation of Jesmond Dene and the restoration of Bamburgh Castle.