Hazelrigg Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hazlerigg; Heslerigg; Heselryg; Hasslerigg; Heselrigge; Hesellerygge

In the civil parish of Chatton.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.
Medieval County of Northumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NU05663315
Latitude 55.59195° Longitude -1.91174°

Hazelrigg Tower has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

Description

First mentioned c.1514 when it could hold a garrison of twenty men. In 1715, a house was built from the ruins (Dodds 1935).
No visible remains of tower or house. The site cannot be confirmed from local sources (i.e. estate maps and title apportionment) (F1 DS 20-JAN-1968).
There are several courses of substantial standing masonry with the wood at the mapped location which may be the remains of the tower. The adjacent front garden wall of the adjacent Old Hazelrigg Cottage contains further substantial stones which could have come from such a structure (pers. Comm J Penn, owner of Old Hazelrigg Cottage, 19-Dec-2012). (Northumberland HER)

The Hazelrigg family inherited Hazelrigg in the 13th century, but at the end of the 15th century, the last heiress had married Sir Thomas Haggerston and lived at Haggerston. When Sir Thomas died in 1507, his widow returned to Hazelrigg where her stepson built a new tower on the side of a hill for her protection. It was a large fortification capable of housing 20 soldiers. It was attacked by 300 Scots in 1515 and set ablaze. Although repaired by 1538, it was a low, incomplete building in good condition. The Scots returned in 1546 and 1588 after which there is no further documentation. In 1715 there is a reference to a house having been built on the site out of the tower's ruins.
There are several 'Hazelriggs' which qualify for the site - North, South, Old, Mill, Dean and Moss, but none without an adjective, so the house's exact position is unknown. (PastScape ref. Dodds 1999)

Comments

Whilst Dodds is correct that that the exact location is uncertain the traditional location is marked on OS maps and attested by local observation and seems entirely reasonable as a location. A garrison of 20 soldiers was the minimum number given in such lists and suggests, by analogue with other towers having a garrison of 20, a small pele tower although, if this built as a dower house, this may have been a free standing tower rather than a solar tower attached to an unfortified hall.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 6163.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N3921.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, Index and Amendments to Mike Salter's English Castles Books (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 4
  Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 99
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 114 (slight)
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 32
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 349
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 194-5
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 116-7
  Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1935, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 14 p. 226-7
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 23 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
Periodical Articles
- 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. 6 abridged transcription
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 23 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1541, View of the Castles, Towers, Barmekyns and Fortresses of the Frontier of the East and Middle Marches Survey of the East and Middle Marches
  1509, Holdis and Towneshyppes too lay in Garnysons of horsmen Survey of Tevedale

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio