North Middleton Tower

Has been described as a Certain Pele Tower

There are no visible remains

NameNorth Middleton Tower
Alternative NamesNorthmidileton
Historic CountryNorthumberland
Modern AuthorityNorthumberland
1974 AuthorityNorthumberland
Civil ParishWallington Demesne

A list of 1415 mentions, and a survey of c. 1715 refers to, remains of a tower at North Middleton (Bates 1891; Hodgson 1916).

Nothing resembling a tower exists in the present village, and its site cannot be distinguished from other minor depopulation remains scattered around the perimeter (F1 DS 08-OCT-68).

North Middleton has not existed at any time in the Wansbeck Valley. Dodds suggests the explanation for the reference to a tower there is that the original settlement was plain Middleton. Later, as buildings appeared on the hill to the North, they were grouped together and gained the title North Middleton to differentiate the two settlements, but as North Middleton grew to prominence, the new 'North' prefix was dropped and the older settlement gained the prefix 'South', which remains. This suggests that Middleton Hall occupies the site of the tower, although there is nothing there to indicate a pele (Dodds 1999). (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

Called a turris in the 1415 list and as 'remains of an old pile' in 1715. The probability was this was a solar tower attached to an unfortified hall.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceNZ060851
Latitude55.1595001220703
Longitude-1.90810000896454
Eastings406000
Northings585100
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 237-8
  • Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 115 (slight)
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2
  • Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 289
  • Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 143
  • Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 16 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  • Hodgson, J., 1827, History of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Part 2 Vol. 1 p. 401 online copy

Journals

  • Hodgson, J.C., 1916, 'List of Ruined Towers, Chapels, etc., in Northumberland; compiled about 1715 by John Warburton, Somerset Herald, aided by John Horsley' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser3) Vol. 13 p. 8 abridged transcription
  • Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 16 online copy

Primary Sources