Ludworth Tower

Has been described as a Certain Pele Tower

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains

NameLudworth Tower
Alternative NamesShadforth
Historic CountryDurham
Modern AuthorityDurham
1974 AuthorityCounty Durham
Civil ParishShadforth

Ruins of tower house. Early C15. (1422 licence to crenellate to Thomas Holden). Thin courses of ochre-coloured limestone, and some magnesian limestone, with sandstone quoins. West elevation: 2 fragments of only surviving wall, to height of 3 storeys with central gap, have 2 roughly- rectangular first-floor window openings, and one on second floor, with dressings removed. East elevation shows rough stone voussoirs over deeply- splayed jambs of these openings; fragments of first-floor fire hood at side of gap, with apparent nook shaft. Fragment of stone spiral stair at north. Remains of barrel-vaulted ground-floor chamber. Fragments formerly identified to south of road now covered over or dispersed. (Listed Building Report)

In 1411 the manor of Ludworth passed into the hands of the Holden family who built the tower and in 1422 license was granted to crenellate the manor. Most of the tower fell in 1890 and all that is left is the tunnel-vaulted basement, the W wall and a fragment of the S wall (Boyle) enclosed by the remains of a small rectangular bank and ditch (VCH, 1905). A fragment of curtain wall remains towards the E. (Surtees). S of the road are the walls of several rooms (Pevsner, 1953). The extent of the remains of the tower and accompanying buildings ... consist only of the W wall 11.2m long, 1.5 m wide and circa 10 m high, with the remains of a newel staircase and several windows, part of the N wall and the barrel vaulted basement, 6.7 m long and 1.8 m high, with a later wall below it. Around the tower are various banks covering fallen walls and foundations but the bank and ditch mentioned by Authority 3 are no longer visible. At NZ 3566 4126 are the roofless buildings referred to by Pevsner, measuring 42.2 m in length, 13.3 m in width and circa 4 m high. Their purpose and date are not known, but they are possibly co-eval with the tower (JHOstridge/22-SEP-1954/OS Archaeology Division Field Investigator). (PastScape)

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law

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 ReferenceNZ355413
Latitude54.7652397155762
Longitude-1.44851005077362
Eastings435580
Northings541300
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink
Copyright Dave Barlow of Abaroths World All Rights ReservedView full Sized Image
Copyright Dave Barlow of Abaroths World All Rights ReservedView full Sized Image
Copyright Dave Barlow of Abaroths World All Rights ReservedView full Sized Image
Copyright Dave Barlow of Abaroths World All Rights ReservedView full Sized Image
Copyright Dave Barlow of Abaroths World All Rights ReservedView full Sized Image
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Books

  • Geldard, Ed, 2009, Northumberland Strongholds (London: Frances Lincoln) p. 109
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles and Tower Houses of County Durham (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 41
  • Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlisle) p. 40-42
  • Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 139n3 (slight)
  • Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 30
  • Corfe, Tom (ed), 1992, 'The Visible Middle Ages' in An Historical Atlas of County Durham p. 28-9
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 136
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus; revised by Elizabeth Williamson, 1983, Buildings of England: Durham (Harmondsworth) p. 357
  • Hugill, Robert, 1979, The Castles and Towers of the County of Durham (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p. 67
  • Pevsner, N., 1953, Buildings of England: Durham (Harmondsworth) p. 181
  • Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  • Leighton, 1910, in Memories of Old Durham (London) p. 218
  • Gould, Chalkley, 1905, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Durham Vol. 1 (London) p. 359 online copy
  • Whellan, F., 1894 (2edn), History, Topography and Directory of the County of Durham p. 293
  • Boyle, J.R., 1892, Comprehensive Guide to the County of Durham: its Castles, Churches, and Manor-Houses (London) p. 478
  • Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. xv (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  • Surtees, R., 1816 (1972 Reprint), The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham (London) Vol. 1 p. 123
  • Hutchinson, Wm, 1785-94, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham Vol. 2 p. 748- online copy

Journals

  • Knowles, 1933, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Vol. 6 p. 29-32
  • 1897-8 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser2) Vol. 8 p. 186-7, photo opp 224 online copy
  • Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. xv online copy
  • 1889-90, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser2) Vol. 4 p. 215

Other

  • Colin Lofthouse, 1992 March, Ludworth Tower Survey (RCHME)
  • Clack, P., 1980, Typescript report on fieldwork in Ludworth 1978 (North-East Archaeol Unit)