Hope Farmhouse, Brinkburn

Has been described as a Possible Bastle

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains

NameHope Farmhouse, Brinkburn
Alternative Names
Historic CountryNorthumberland
Modern AuthorityNorthumberland
1974 AuthorityNorthumberland
Civil ParishBrinkburn

Although Hope farmhouse is a fairly modern building, the north-west wall stands on older foundations. These have previously been described as a bastle. The lower courses of the north-west wall are built of rough stones of various sizes but only measure 0.6m thick. The walls of a bastle are usually over 1m thick and its identification as a bastle must remain uncertain. (Keys to the Past)

A fortified farmhouse or bastle existed at Brinkburn Hope (Dixon 1903).

Hope farmhouse at NU 09700158 is a modern building except for the lower courses of stonework on the NW wall. Up to a height of about 4.0m the stonework is roughly-fashioned, raised upon foundations of large shaped boulders. The wall is 5.9m wide and about 0.6m thick and has a retaining arch of long flat stones at the centre, over a blocked-up entrance. There are no other traces of an earlier structure within or around the farmhouse (F1 ASP 25-JAN-57). (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

Thick walls are not, of themselves, defensive. Their importance for bastles is the structural need to support heavy, fire resistant, floors and roofs. A well built and well mortared wall might not need to be as thick as a rougher constructed wall to have the same structural strength. This is a farm in an area where the standard form of C17 farmhouse was the pele-house to the extent where the emphasis probably has to be on producing evidence this was not a bastle.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceNU097015
Latitude55.308219909668
Longitude-1.84871995449066
Eastings409700
Northings601580
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 198-9
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 329 (as fragment of tower), 361(as bastle)
  • Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 214
  • Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 123
  • Dixon, D.D., 1903, Upper Coquetdale Northumberland: Its History, Traditions, Folk-lore and Scenery (Newcastle-upon Tyne: Robert Redpath) p. 160 online copy

Journals

  • Christopherson, R., 2011, 'Northumberland bastles: origin and distribution' Medieval Settlement Research Vol. 26 p. 21-33 (listed in appendix)
  • Dixon, P.W., 1972, 'Shielings and bastles: a reconsideration of some problems' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser4) Vol. 50 p. 249-58
  • Hadcock, R.N., 1939, 'A map of mediaeval Northumberland and Durham' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser4) Vol. 16 p. 148-218 esp 163