Townfoot Farmhouse. Elsdon (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY93509302
Latitude 55.23129° Longitude -2.10390°

Townfoot Farmhouse. Elsdon 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 and attached kennel. Probably early C18 with earlier core. Altered and raised to 2 storeys mid C19. Random rubble; 1st floor snecked stone with ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roof, stone flags on kennel. 2 storeys, 3 bays. late C19 wood porch with decorative bargeboards and terracotta cresting. 4-pane sashes with projecting sills. Guttering supported on stone brackets. Gabled roof with flat coping and kneelers. Corniced end stacks.
Massive random rubble on left return and similar but slightly more even stonework to rear may indicate a bastle house origin for the building. Walls c.3 ft. thick.
Attached to the front left-hand corner of the house a small C18 or early C19 kennel with segmental-arched doorway and gabled roof. (Listed Building Report)

Bastle-type masonry (massive rubble) in W end (and perhaps also north wall) of otherwise 19th century house (Ryder, P F 06-AUG-90 Field Investigation).
Present Townfoot farmhouse, at south west end of Elsdon village, incorporates multiperiod works. The central section of west end is typical 'bastle' character, and consists of massive roughly-squared blocks laid in rough courses. Both quoins rebuilt. Possible first-floor loop to south of centre. Wall seems about 1m thick; possible that old fabric may survive in north wall. Remnants of the bastle incorporated in 18th/19th century row of single-storey cottages (Ryder 1990).
An early 18th century house with earlier core, altered in the mid 19th century. Built of random rubble, the first floor is snecked stone with ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roof. Two -storeys, three bays. Late 19th century wooden porch with decorative bargeboards and terracotta cresting. Renewed sash windows. The house has massive random rubble on the gable end and to a lesser extent on the rear and this probably indicates a bastle origin. The lower walls elsewhere are 18th century and the house was raised to two storeys in the mid 19th century. Attached to the front left-hand corner of the house is a small 18th or early 19th century kennel; stone with an arched doorway and a gabled roof. The house has been extensively altered inside and to the rear (Grundy 1987). (Northumberland HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1041230
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N9757.

Periodical Articles
- Christopherson, R., 2011, 'Northumberland bastles: origin and distribution' Medieval Settlement Research Vol. 26 p. 21-33 (listed in appendix)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Ryder, P.F., 1990, Bastles and Towers in the Northumberland National Park (Report for Northumberland National Park Authority) p. 15

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Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources 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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