Retaining the general outline of the castle as in the Rivers of England and Liber versions, this 'colourbeginning' is nevertheless the closest of the 'Norham' designs to the painting probably executed in the late 1830s (No.650), and, it may be, immediately precedes it in time.

Finberg suggested that Tamworth Castle was the subject of this 'colour-beginning' but its affinities with the Norham series leave little doubt of its starting point.