Nesbit Tower

Has been described as a Possible Pele Tower

There are no visible remains

NameNesbit Tower
Alternative NamesNesbit in Glendale; Nesbette; Nesbitt; Nesebitt
Historic CountryNorthumberland
Modern AuthorityNorthumberland
1974 AuthorityNorthumberland
Civil ParishDoddington

A tower is mentioned at Nesbit in a document dated 1415. Its remains were recorded in about 1715 but its exact site is no longer known. (Keys to the Past)

A tower at Nesbit is mentioned in a list dated 1415 (Dodds 1935).

Remains are mentioned in a survey of c.1715 (Hodgson).

There is no local knowledge of a tower at Nesbit, and its site could not be established (F1 DK 01-FEB-67).

The tower was built shortly before 1415 by Thomas Grey, and was abandoned in 1603, although the remains were visible in 1715 (King 1983; Dodds 1999). (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

In 1415 the tower here belonged to Sir Thomas Grey. In 1541 the tower was "longe synce for lack of reparacons decayed & fallen & no fortress there now remayneth". Remains noted in 1715. The site is lost but is likely to be under the modern farm buildings at Nesbit. The form of the tower is not known, it is called a turris in the 1415 list which is generally a term used for smaller tower houses. The lack of remains may suggests a masonry solar tower attached to a timber framed hall rather than a masonry tower house.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceNT983334
Latitude55.5955085754395
Longitude-2.02735996246338
Eastings398300
Northings633400
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 82-3
  • Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 82
  • Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 22
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 351
  • Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 245
  • Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 137
  • Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1935, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 14 p. 178
  • Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 18 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)

Journals

  • Hodgson, J.C., 1916, 'List of Ruined Towers, Chapels, etc., in Northumberland; compiled about 1715 by John Warburton, Somerset Herald, aided by John Horsley' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser3) Vol. 13 p. 6 abridged transcription
  • Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 18 online copy

Primary Sources