Broughton in Amounderness (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Broughton in Preston

In the civil parish of Preston.
In the historic county of Lancashire.
Modern Authority of Lancashire.
1974 county of Lancashire.
Medieval County of Lancashire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SD54103351
Latitude 53.79587° Longitude -2.69828°

Broughton in Amounderness has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House, and also as a probable Pele Tower.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Broughton Tower was built as a fortified manor house by one of the Singletons, a family mentioned in 1471. In the 16th century, the Tower was a strongly built house surrounded by a moat. The last remains were taken down in 1800 (Fishwick 1901; VCH 1912).
There are no surfaces indications of the Tower other than a slight rise at the published site. Only the north west side of the moat is well defined, the remainder is mutilated and partly filled in, but can still be traced (F1 EG 20-FEB-58). (PastScape)

Was built as a fortified manor-house by one of the Singletons. In the sixteenth century it was a strongly built house, well suited for defence, and surrounded by a moat. The last remains of the place were taken down in 1800. In 1515, during a family feud, one of the parties entered 'the chief place or tower," and kept possession vi et armis. They also broke into the chapel there, and placed "gownnys (guns) crossbowys and other artillery of wer," and when the other parties appeared they, "caused a bagpipe to play and in great deryson daunced." After this there was a good deal of shooting, but ultimately the aggressors were bound over to keep the peace. No drawing of this ancient tower has been preserved. (Fishwick)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 42725.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Lancashire Halls and Houses
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Lancashire and Cheshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 23
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 248
  Gibson, Leslie Irving, 1977, Lancashire Castles and Towers (Dalesman Books)
  Farrer, William and Brownbill, J. (eds), 1912, VCH Lancashire Vol. 7 p. 118 online transcription
  Fishwick, 1907, 'Castles and Fortified Houses' in Fishwick and P.H. Ditchfield (eds), Memorials of Old Lancashire (London: Bemrose and sons) Vol. 2 p. 21 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Fishwick, H., 1901, 'The Old Castles of Lancashire.' Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 19 p. 75 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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