Ford House

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

There are no visible remains

NameFord House
Alternative Names
Historic CountryCumberland
Modern AuthorityCumbria
1974 AuthorityCumbria
Civil ParishBootle

Ford House was probably a guard house of Seaton Priory, and stands upon a levelled platform surrounded by a ditch-site of a Curia Garth. There may have been a pele tower, and the house incorporates Tudor, 17th and 18th century work (Letter (Mary C Fair April 1954)).

The house has a modern exterior but possibly incorporates 17th and 18th cent. internal features. No trace of a pele tower or surrounding ditch (Field Investigators Comments F1 BHP 27-JAN-69). (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

'Seaton Priory' was a Benedictine Nunnery; such communities were generally not wealthy but it is possible that there was a grange here. If there was a defensible building then perhaps a post-Reformation bastle is more likely than a pele tower.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSD101897
Latitude54.2954216003418
Longitude-3.38221001625061
Eastings310160
Northings489740
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 114
  • Crawford, G. and George, C., 1983, Archaeological Survey of Copeland (Kendal; W D Biggs) p. 56