Titlington Tower

Has been described as a Certain Pele Tower

There are no visible remains

NameTitlington Tower
Alternative Names
Historic CountryNorthumberland
Modern AuthorityNorthumberland
1974 AuthorityNorthumberland
Civil ParishHedgeley

Documents written in 1541 mention a ruined tower at Titlington. There is no sign of a medieval motte and bailey at Titlington Hall today, although a mound in the garden is traditionally thought to have been the site of the motte. It is more certain that a pele tower stood on the site. The pele tower was either completely demolished or incorporated into a new house in 1745. In 1824, the 1745 building was demolished and replaced. (Keys to the Past)

In a survey made in 1541 it is stated that at Titlington there was a 'little tower of the princes inheritance decayed'... belonging to the suppressed monastery of Kyrkehm (Hodgson 1924).

The site of Titlington Hall is a nearly level piece of ground on a saddle between Titlington and Jennys Lantern Hill. Here there seems to have stood a small motte and bailey a short distance S of the present mansion with the front lawn on the site of the bailey. At some date in the middle ages the motte was lowered and a pele tower erected; its enclosure extended North eastwards c 75 yards where the traditional site of the gateway is marked by a small mound and hawthorn tree. In 1745 Roger Pearson either cleared away or altered the pele and built a house whose surviving trace is the date 1745 cut at the W corner of the (present) building (Dodds 1935). (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

Some sources suggest the tower was built on the summit of the supposed motte of Titlington castle and that the motte was truncated when the tower was demolished. However the evidence for this is slight and it may be the small tower was on the site of the later house.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceNU098150
Latitude55.4301300048828
Longitude-1.84556996822357
Eastings409870
Northings615090
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 148
  • Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 99
  • Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlisle) p. 117
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 342
  • Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 326
  • Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 163
  • Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1935, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 14 p. 447
  • Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 42 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)

Journals

  • Hodgson, J.C., 1924, 'The Manor and Township of Titlington' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser3) Vol. 21 p. 9
  • 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. 7 abridged transcription
  • Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 42 online copy