Bush

Has been described as a Questionable Pele Tower, and also as a Questionable Bastle

There are no visible remains

NameBush
Alternative NamesDavie of ye bush; Dame of Ye Bush; The Scottes dike heade; Croftsike
Historic CountryCumberland
Modern AuthorityCumbria
1974 AuthorityCumbria
Civil ParishKirkandrews

Possible stonehouse or tower site.

Marked on the 1590 map as a tower of 'Davie of ye bush' and as a house at 'The Scottes dike heade' on the 1607 platt.

Cole states 'probably... near Englishtown... close to the edge of the cliff above the Sark... the outlook is splendid... He traces the Storys of Bush back to 1561 and gives documentary references.

Cole states 'a great deal of this site has been lost by erosion' but he mentions a stone-lined well still to be seen there. Needs further fieldwork to establish the site. (Perriam and Robinson 1998)

Gatehouse Comments

Also recorded in Canmore (The Scottish NMR No 67564) as in Scotland (NY337744), which, given the crude nature of the map, is entirely possible. However, a location under the modern farm of Englishtown is a reasonable supposition although a site on the bank of the River Sark and part lost to erosion, to the west of the modern farm, is also possible. It is difficult to really known what the symbols on the 1590 map actually meant. They mainly refer to sites that are now lost and which were never gentry status sites. This suggests these were not pele towers. It is more likely they were some form of bastle or stonehouse. The lack of survival of such houses in this area, as opposed to their fairly frequent survival in the higher Pennine lands, may reflect the good agricultural quality of this land producing wealth (once the area was politically stabilised and decriminalised) which allowed for the building of brand new farmhouses and farmbuildings in the C18/C19. Nothing suggests this was a gentry status site so the likely form of the C16/C17 building would be a pele-house type bastle.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceNY335730
Latitude55.047908782959
Longitude-3.04175996780396
Eastings333500
Northings573000
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • RCAHMS, 1997, Eastern Dumfriesshire: an archaeological landscape (Edinburgh) p. 314 No. 1464
  • Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 99 (slight)
  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 228
  • Hyslop and Hyslop, J. and R., 1912, Langholm as it was: a history of Langholm and Eskdale from the earliest times (Sunderland; Edinburgh; Glasgow) p. 320
  • Jeffrey, A., 1864, History and Antiquities of Roxburghshire Vol. 4 p. 232 (facsimile of map) online copy

Journals

  • Graham, T.H.B., 1914, 'The Debatable Land Part II' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 14 facing p. 148 online copy [online copy of 1607 platt > http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/maps/m067.htm] [online copy of 1552 map > http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/maps/m068.htm]
  • Ellis, H., 1829, 'Copy of a manuscript tract addressed to Lord Burghley, illustrative of the Border topography of Scotland, AD 1590, with a platt or map of the Borders taken in the same year' Archaeologia Vol. 22 p. 161-71 online copy

Primary Sources

  • 1590, A Platt of the opposete Borders of Scotland to ye west marches of England (The Aglionby Platt) British Library online Gallery and [Old Cumbria Gazetteer > http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/maps/m048.htm] (see also [Gatehouse Essay 'The Aglionby Platt' > http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/APHome.html])

Other

  • Cole, J.R., 1982, A survey of the Debatable Land and Glen Tarras c. 1449-1620 (Thesis for Manchester University) p. 63-4