Castlefacts³

Hotbank Peel Tower

Has been described as a Questionable Pele Tower, and also as a Questionable Bastle

There are masonry footings remains

Name	Hotbank Peel Tower
Alternative Names
Historic Country	Northumberland
Modern Authority	Northumberland
1974 Authority	Northumberland
Civil Parish	Bardon Mill

Rectangular foundations of a building, possibly a medieval Peel Tower, with surviving corner stones on all corners but the SE, measuring 10.6m (N-S) by 9.4m with earth and stone walls standing up to 0.5m high, divided into 2 halves internally N-S. The feature lies at the end of a double bank and ditch system running N from Hotbank Crags (12350.37) 'Peel', or 'pele', is a term originally defining a fortified enclosure but by the late Middle Ages had acquired a range of meaning and was often uses as a synonym for a tower or to describe almost any defensible construction (Ramm et al 1970, xiv, 61). A peel tower was excavated by Simpson on Steel Rig in 1909 (12201*0) (Simpson G, 1976, 109). (National Trust HBSMR: Full Monument Report)

Gatehouse Comments

National Trust SMR record of Pele Tower. Not recorded in PastScape. Nothing at this location visible on modern OS map but a small square feature is visible on the air photo. This appears to be marked as 'Sheepfold' on the 1861 OS map and the 'bank and ditch' seems to be marked as a track. On the 1895 map the site is no longer marked.This is marginal land and seems quite unlikely as a site of a high status residence and questionable as even the site of a modest bastle.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

County Historic Environment Record

archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/record.jsf?titleId=1792543

OS Map Grid Reference	NY772688
Latitude	55.0132217407227
Longitude	-2.35757994651794
Eastings	377230
Northings	568800