Ilderton Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Turris de Ildirton

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NU01662177
Latitude 55.48973° Longitude -1.97527°

Ilderton Tower has been described as a certain Tower House.

There are uncertain remains.

Description

Ilderton Tower is mentioned in a list of 1415, and in 1541, is described as'with a strong barmkin'. In 1715 it was in ruins. Its site is not certainly known, but the remains may be built into the present hall. Maclauchan's plan shows pecked outline adjoining the SW corner of the farmhouse at NU01662177 (Dodds 1935; Bates 1891; Maclauchan 1864).
The only possible remains of the tower are fragments of walling and a buttress incorporated in the garden wall in the position noted by Maclauchan. No trace of the barmkin survives (F1 ASP 25-NOV-55)
The buttress at NU0167421779 is 1.0m square and 3.5m high forming part of a wall extending from the southern corner of the
farmhouse. The other parts of the wall appear too thin to have been part of a tower. No other possible remains could be found in the area. No proof was found that this buttress was part of the original Ilderton Tower (F2 DSL 09-SEP-76). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 5942.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N3501.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 110
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 115 (slight)
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 33
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 350
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 219
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 126
  Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1935, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 14 p. 266
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 17, 42 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  MacLauchlan, H., 1864, Memoir written during a survey of the eastern branch of the Watling Street (London) sheet 3
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. 10 abridged transcription
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 17, 42 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
  1415, Nomina Castrorum et Fortaliciorum infra Comitatum Northumbrie online transcription

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