Nether Hall in Westmoreland

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

There are major building remains

NameNether Hall in Westmoreland
Alternative NamesNetherhall
Historic CountryWestmorland
Modern AuthorityCumbria
1974 AuthorityCumbria
Civil ParishWitherslack

Nether Hall was the 15th century home of the Harrington family, the earliest walls being 5 feet thick and probably the remains of a pele tower. Rebuilt in the 16th century with a 17th century north wing. Developed in the 18th century into a farmhouse. (PastScape)

Nether Hall, 800 yards E.N.E. of the church, was built probably early in the 16th century. The N. wing is a 17th-century addition. The house retains some 16th and 17th-century windows, the latter with solid frames. Inside the building, the original block has an open timbered ceiling of heavy beams. In the thickness of the N. wall is a stone staircase with a garde-robe at the top. There are some 17th-century doors. The original roof of the main block is of three bays, with king-post trusses against the end walls; the intermediate trusses have tie-beams and collars with curved braces below and king-posts above. The N. wing has a crutch-truss of late character. (RCHME 1936)

Gatehouse Comments

Gatehouse has difficulty in understanding the attribution of this hall to the Harrington Family. It seems, in fact, to be a cruck built farmhouse presumably tenanted from the Harrington's (who's residence was Witherslack Hall). The evidence for a 'tower' is a thick wall containing an intramural stair leading to a latrine. This wall may well be thick to contain the stair, rather than to support upper levels. The walls were erected around the cruck frame. The social status of this building seems more that of a pele-house type bastle but as this was not a chamber above byre this is not really such a building.

- 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 ReferenceSD439844
Latitude54.2522392272949
Longitude-2.862380027771
Eastings343920
Northings484400
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.

Calculate Print

Books

  • 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. 358 (plan)
  • RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 249 no. 14 online transcription
  • Farrer, W. and Curwen, J.F. (eds), 1924, Records Relating to the Barony of Kendale Vol. 2 (Kendal: CWAAS Record Series 5) p. 263 online transcription

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. 30 online copy
  • Hutton, F.R.C., 1901, 'Witherslack Church and Manor' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 1 p. 192 online copy