Castlefacts³

Greenleighton Stone House

Has been described as a Possible Bastle

There are no visible remains

Name	Greenleighton Stone House
Alternative Names
Historic Country	Northumberland
Modern Authority	Northumberland
1974 Authority	Northumberland
Civil Parish	Hollinghill

Bastle and a little barmkin at Greenleighton (Hadcock 1939).

Described in the 1541 survey as a little stone house with a barmkin and not in good repair. (Not listed in the 1415 survey pp.13-19). (Bates 1891).

NZ 02719198. No trace of this building was discovered and there are no local traditions regarding its existence. No significant field names were discovered.

The present farmhouse, quite modern, stands on a rise and with its fine southern aspect possibly occupies the site of this building, which from its description in Bates appears to be one of the defended houses common to this region (F1 EG 18-FEB-1957). (Northumberland HER)

The {Newminster} Abbey's land was also farmed, probably by the monks themselves for they were enthusiastic agriculturalists. Soon after 1467 Abbot John Birtley built a fortification for them; at the time it was described as a 'strong stone house with barmekyn', so perhaps it should be classified as a strong house rather than as a tower.

In 1568 the situation was that the Crown owned the former Abbey's part and had leased it to Richard Stritham, John Fenwick owned the other part and the strong house was a ruin. (Dodds 1999)

In 1568, John Fenwick is returned in a survey as holding one part of the manor, and the crown the other part, which had belonged to the abbot of Newminster; and which last part the queen, 26 Nov. 1576, under the description of "a tenement called The Stone-house, with a close of arable land and pasture adjoining, and rights on the moor of Greenleighton, near Redesdale, and all the lands there, formerly in the hand of Roger Fenwick, esq. and late of Anthony Fenwick, belonging to the abbey of Newminster, leased for 21 years to Richard Statham, together with a tenement in Newgate, in Morpeth, in the tenure of William Blackett. (Hodgson 1827)

Gatehouse Comments

Quite the exact form of this 'Stone House' is unknown. The 1541 survey was concerned with buildings of large and modest size that could house a garrison of a number of horsemen. As an Abbey building this might reasonably be expected to be a building of good quality built with good financial backing. If it was built in the C15, as suggested by Dodds, then arguably the form may have been a hall house over a storage chamber, a form superficially similar to a pele-house type bastle.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

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

21468

County Historic Environment Record

www.keystothepast.info/article/10339/Site-Details?PRN=N10787

OS Map Grid Reference	NZ027919
Latitude	55.2220191955566
Longitude	-1.95879995822906
Eastings	402710
Northings	591980