Cunswick Hall

Has been described as a Possible Fortified Manor House, and also as a Possible Pele Tower

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains

NameCunswick Hall
Alternative NamesCamswik; Coneswic; Coningeswyk
Historic CountryWestmorland
Modern AuthorityCumbria
1974 AuthorityCumbria
Civil ParishUnderbarrow And Bradleyfield

C19 house, incorporating some C16 fabric. Two storeyed and built of stone rubble with a slate roof. Stands on the site of an earlier building, possibly a pele tower which is recorded as having been demolished circa 1582. Only a strong gate remains of the earlier building. (PastScape)

Cunswick Hall, house, gatehouse and outbuilding, 1½ m. E.N.E. of the church. The House, which belonged to the Leyburne family, has been entirely re-built except for a portion of walling on the N. of the W. wing. This is of rubble and perhaps of early 16th-century date; it contains a stone window of two slightly pointed lights in a square head.

The Gatehouse, S. of the house, is a rubble building of two storeys. It is of 15th or early 16th-century date, but the two arches of the actual gateway have been re-built. Above the N. arch is a re-set stone with the Tudor royal arms, crown and garter. The upper storey has some skewed loop-lights and a semi-circular recess with a drain. The roof incorporates some old timbers. The square rubble building, E. of the gatehouse, was possibly a pigeon-house; the top has been reconstructed. It is of uncertain date.

Condition—Good. (RCHME 1936)

Gatehouse. Probably early C16, arches apparently rebuilt. Limestone walls and voussoirs; greenslate roof with stone ridges. Tudor arms with crown and garter above North Arch. Interior has curved tie-beams and remains of stair or possibly garderobe in thickness of wall. (Listed Building Report)

Gatehouse Comments

Shown as a tower, in a fenced park, on Saxton's map of 1576.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law

Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSD485933
Latitude54.3311195373535
Longitude-2.79260993003845
Eastings348560
Northings493340
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink
Photograph by Matthew Emmott. All rights reservedView full Sized Image

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.

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Books

  • Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 97 (slight)
  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 338 (plan)
  • Palmer, J.H., 1944, Historic Farmhouses in and around Westmorland (Kendal) p. 36
  • RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 230 no. 2 online transcription
  • Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 365
  • Taylor, M.W., 1892, Old Manorial Halls of Westmorland and Cumberland (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 8) p. 222-3 online copy

Antiquarian

  • Hughes, E. (ed), 1962, Fleming-Senhouse Papers (Carlisle: Cumberland Record Series 2) p. 12

Journals

  • Collingwood, W.G., 1926, 'An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Westmorland and Lancashire North-of-the-Sands' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 26 p. 29 online copy

Primary Sources

  • Saxton, Christopher, 1576, Map, Westmorlandiae et Cumberlandiae Comitatus ie Westmorland and Cumberland, scale about 5 miles to 1 inch, London, engraved by Augustinus Ryther, published 1579-1645. online copy