Castlefacts³

Middle Skelgill

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

There are masonry footings remains

Name	Middle Skelgill
Alternative Names
Historic Country	Cumberland
Modern Authority	Cumbria
1974 Authority	Cumbria
Civil Parish	Alston Moor

Stonehouse with possible tower base.

R.A. Fairbairn records a datestone 'I D D 1694' and describes it as single storey, originally heather-thatched, raised in the 17th century. (Perriam and Robinson)

At Skelgill is a stone house with a possible tower base. The tower predates the adjoining house which was added in 1694 according to a datestone over lintel. (PastScape ref. Perriam and Robinson)

Gatehouse Comments

A John Whitfield, of Skelgill, gent is recorded the C16 but there are several Skelgill's. If this site was a gentry residence, and if this 'single storey' building was a tower in its original form than this would be a pele tower in the terms used in Gatehouse. However, this is at the lowest end of gentry status buildings and it may be this is actually a simple yeoman's house. The walls shown on the plan in Perriam and Robinson are only 2 foot thick, probably too thin for either a pele-tower or a pele-house type bastle.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)

1389141

County Historic Environment Record

www.cumbria.gov.uk/planning-environment/countryside/historic-environment/HER.asp

OS Map Grid Reference	NY732465
Latitude	54.8125305175781
Longitude	-2.41890001296997
Eastings	373200
Northings	546500