Hepple village bastle-houses (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NT984006
Latitude 55.29985° Longitude -2.02700°

Hepple village bastle-houses has been described as a probable Bastle.

There are no visible remains.

Comments

Dixon also writes the township consisted of seven farms, and the Demense, whereof one is freehold.
Although Hepple village lies north of the River Coquet much of the medieval parish lay to the south of the river, an area of higher land and rougher pasture. The modern Civil Parish is of even larger extent, and includes a number of peel-houses which were in the previous Woodside parish. However Dixon's 'several "bastle-houses" were in the village, not the parish. These probably did not included Hepple Tower, which maintained a gentry status.
The 1st edition OS map of 1863 shows the current row of houses. Ridge and furrow delimits the area which could have been occupied by the 'pele-house' to just north of the road which is still mainly open; East Hepple Farm House and a row of mid C19 buildings occupy some of the area and may even lie on the footstep of one or more of the possible pele-houses but a notably 'bumpy' field lies east of these so it may be archaeological investigation could give further detail at some future time.
Although this is potential a large grouping of pele-houses there is no suggestion these form a defensible circuit or that the village as a whole was defensible. The village had a reputation as a home of Border Reivers.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 176
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 349
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 118
  Dixon, D.D., 1903, Upper Coquetdale Northumberland: Its History, Traditions, Folk-lore and Scenery (Newcastle-upon Tyne: Robert Redpath) p. 306-7 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.

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