Colwell Manor House, Chollerton (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY95057558
Latitude 55.07466° Longitude -2.07903°

Colwell Manor House, Chollerton has been described as a probable Bastle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

House C16 or C17. Altered C20. Random rubble with Welsh slate roofs. Walls c 4 feet thick. 2 storeys, 3 bays. Central doorway has lintel with flattened Tudor arch partly hidden behind C20 porch. C20 door.
Windows are early C20 casements in openings of former 2-light mullioned windows. Stumps of several double-chamfered mullions still visible. Recessed, chamfered surrounds.
Right return has 2 large late C20 windows and one small blocked square window with chamfered surround.
Similar, formerly 2-light, window to rear and blocked doorway with flattened Tudor arch.
Left return has stumps of further walls and large external stack, formerly inside house.
Gabled roof with flat coping at right and rebuilt brick end stacks.
The house is the remains of the manor of the Widdrington family and is included for historical value. (Listed Building Report)

Colwell Manor House stands towards the west end of the village of Colwell, set back from the main street. The old part of the house consists of a rectangular block 11.7m by 6.7m, with a later rear outshut and a flat roofed 20th century rear wing. The house is built of roughly shaped and coursed rubble; its west end may have been truncated (what is now an external stack here looks like a former internal one) and its east end seems to have been rebuilt as well. The side walls appear to be of considerable thickness (over 1m). The south elevation, of two storeys and three bays, has a recent central doorway and porch, but older windows with recessed and chamfered surrounds; they have originally been of two lights, but the mullions have gone. The jamb stones of these windows are of narrow 'upright' form, suggesting that they are insertions in earlier walling. Interior not seen.
The massive side walls of this house, coupled with the fact that the late 17th century windows appear to be insertions, imply that it was a defensible building of some sort, probably a bastle (Ryder 1994-5). (Northumberland HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1155309
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N9267.

Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Ryder, P.F., 1994-5, Towers and Bastles in Northumberland Part 4 Tynedale District Vol. 1 p. 49-50

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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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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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