Nether Levens Hall

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

There are no visible remains

NameNether Levens Hall
Alternative Names
Historic CountryWestmorland
Modern AuthorityCumbria
1974 AuthorityCumbria
Civil ParishLevens

Mainly 16th century farmhouse, originally part of a larger complex. One source suggests that the ruinous south wing of the house was built as a pele tower in the 14th century. The RCHME record, however, dates it to the early 16th century. The remainder of the house is mid and late 16th century in date, with later alterations. The two storeyed house is irregular in plan, and built of stone rubble with a slate roof. (PastScape)

Nether Levens (Plate 133), house, 770 yards W. of Levens Hall, is of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are slate-covered. It belonged to the Preston family from 1452 to the latter part of the 17th century. The S. part of the house, consisting of the main block, the ruined S. cross-wing and a part of what was probably the N. cross-wing, was built early in the 16th century. About the middle of the same century the long N. wing was added and c. 1594 additions were made partly on the site of the earlier N. cross-wing. The E. side of the original main block has an early 16th-century window of four four-centred lights in a square head with a moulded label and casement-moulded reveals; further N. is a two-light window of the same date; on the upper floor is a late 16th-century window of two transomed lights with a moulded label, an altered window perhaps of the same age and two late 17th-century windows with solid wooden frames. The W. side of the same block has an original window of two pointed lights in a square head and at the N. end of the block is a projecting garde-robe tower (Plate 136) finished with a gable. The remaining walls of the S. cross-wing are fragmentary. The original part of the N. cross-wing has a late 17th-century window, with a solid frame, in the W. wall

The added N. wing has a mid 16th-century window in the lower storey of the W. wall; it has a moulded wooden frame, mullions and transom and is of seven lights below and five lights above the transom; above it is a five-light window with a wooden frame. The late 16th-century additions on the E. side retain a number of windows of that date and the gable of the small more northerly part has a panel with the initials and date T. and A.P. 1594; the main addition seems to have formerly extended further to the E. The chimneystacks of the house, generally, have cylindrical shafts. (RCHME 1936)

Gatehouse Comments

Machell's sketch shows a courtyard house with building on three sides and a crenellated wall on the fourth. He does not show a tower.

- 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 ReferenceSD488851
Latitude54.2589988708496
Longitude-2.78706002235413
Eastings348850
Northings485170
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink
Photograph by Matthew Emmott. All rights reservedView full Sized Image
Photograph by Matthew Emmott. All rights reservedView full Sized Image
Photograph by Matthew Emmott. All rights reservedView full Sized Image
Photograph by Matthew Emmott. All rights reservedView full Sized Image

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Books

  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 359 (plan)
  • Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 99 (slight)
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 495 (possible)
  • Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p. 148-9
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p. 270
  • Palmer, J.H., 1944, Historic Farmhouses in and around Westmorland (Kendal) p. 92
  • RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 155-6 plan [online transcription > http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=120780]
  • Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 385-6
  • Taylor, M.W., 1892, Old Manorial Halls of Westmorland and Cumberland (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 8) p. 205-8 online copy

Antiquarian

  • Manuscripts of the Reverend Thomas Machell, vicar of Kirkby Thore (d 1698) Vol. 2 p. 179 (preserved at the Cumberland Record Office)
  • Hughes, E. (ed), 1962, Fleming-Senhouse Papers (Carlisle: Cumberland Record Series 2) p. 11

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. 32 online copy
  • Curwen, J.F., 1904, 'Nether Levens Hall' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 4 p. 235-7 online copy