Birks, Greystead (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Chirdonbirks

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY78098484
Latitude 55.15744° Longitude -2.34540°

Birks, Greystead has been described as a Pele Tower although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a probable Bastle.

There are no visible remains.

Description

In C19 a pele tower is said to have stood at Birks. A sketch was made in 1833 when the tower had already been partly demolished and was possibly being used as a shepherd's shelter. However, the present house is entirely C19 and does not seem to have any medieval features and there are no traces of the tower nearby. (Keys to the Past)

This small Pele tower appears to have been partly demolished prior to 1833, and adopted to the use of a dwelling for some shepherd or hind. The remains were sketched by T M Richardson in 1833. No remains now exist (Oral information).
The present house of Birks is 19th century. It contains no structural evidence of a pele and there are no surface indications of one anywhere in the vicinity (F1 ASP 05-JUL-56). (PastScape)

Comments

Recorded by MacLauchlan in a list of local 'Pele Towers' given to him by an old resident - most of these 'towers' actually were bastles or pele-houses and MacLauchlan presumably failed to understand the varied use of the term 'pele'. Given the closeness of Dally Castle the location is more likely to be that of a bastle rather than a gentry status solar tower.
The given map reference is for the C19 farmhouse although there is a suggestion on the 1861 six-inch OS map this was built on the site of an older square building.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 15836.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N7042.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Tarset Archive Group
Books
- King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 356 (possible)
  MacLauchlan, H., 1867, Notes not included in the memoirs already published on Roman roads in Northumberland: taken during a survey made by direction of the Duke of Northumberland (London) p. 73 online copy

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