Thornton Tower, Newbrough (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY87446836
Latitude 55.00964° Longitude -2.19783°

Thornton Tower, Newbrough has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

Towerhouse, late medieval. A section of the external face of the west wall of massive squared stones is visible from within the adjacent barn, the remainder of the ruin is largely rubble wall core. Rectangular plan, incorporated at the north east corner of a group of C19 farm buildings. Ground floor walls only with remains of loop window on the east, except for a higher fragment of the west wall forming part of the end wall of the adjacent barn. Interior obscured by rubble and rubbish. (Listed Building Report)

The earliest record of Thornton Tower is a survey of defences made in 1541 and at that time it was already in some state of decay. The medieval tower house was probably built in the 15th or early 16th century and is now a ruin situated in the corner of a group of 19th century farm buildings. The walls stand between 2.5m and 4.5m high. Inside the tower, the ground is raised about 2m above the surrounding ground level and the original fabric of the tower basement may be fairly complete. (Keys to the Past)

Thornton Tower, mentioned in 1542 and 1692, is described in 1840 as a ruin standing at the N.E. corner of quadrangular farm buildings. Its walls now stand between 2.5 m. to 4.5 m. in height. G.P. AO/56/74/7 shows the N.W. corner (F1 ASP 21.03.56).
First documented in 1542 when it was owned by Lord Burrowe. However, it may have been King Edward I's rest place during the summer of 1306. It was still extant in 1715 when the Earl of Derwentwater hid there. The ruins enclose an area 42 by 33 feet (Dodds 1999). (PastScape)

a tower formerly stood here; though I find no mention of it till 1542, when it is described "as a tower at Newbrough, of the inheritance of lord Burrowe, and in measurable good reparations". In 1692, it is described as a "capital messuage," belonging to John Armstrong, gentleman: and at present is a low, shapeless mass of strongly cemented ruins, at the north-east corner of the quadrangle of the farm offices of the estate on which it stands. In 1813, all its ashlar work, inside and outside, was gone: and its remains measured 42 feet by 33, the walls left being 6 feet thick. (Hodgson 1840)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1045021
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 16262.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N7600.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 380-1
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 115 (slight)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 200 (slight)
  Pevsner, N. et al, 1992, Buildings of England: Northumberland (London) p. 405
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 56
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 338
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 325
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 162
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 48 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  Hodgson, J., 1840, History of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Part 2 Vol. 3 p. 390 online copy
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. 16 abridged transcription
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 48 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
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. 2 p. 127

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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.

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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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