Stobbs, Rochester (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY83779709
Latitude 55.26779° Longitude -2.25678°

Stobbs, Rochester has been described as a probable Bastle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

17th century, altered and extended in 1724. Built of large random rubble blocks and extended by two bays in ashlar; Welsh slate roof. A house that might have started off as a bastle. One can't be sure but the masonry is rough and substantial and the walls are about 40 inches thick. The old part is two storeys and three bays with a 20th century central door in a chamfered alternating-block surround with the lintel dated 1724; the lintel though is newer than the jambs and is probably an insertion. The right jamb has the date 1817 scratched in. 20th century 12-pane casements in 18th century chamfered surrounds. The casements imitate 12-pane sashes quite convincingly. Steeply-pitched gabled roof with corniced end stacks. Inside there are several doors with two large panels - an early 18th century feature (Grundy 1987).
Three-bay house built of large roughly-coursed rubble with rough-shaped quoins laid in side-alternate fashion. Front wall is 0.75m thick, rear wall 0.85m and east end wall 1.1m thick. Front door lintel dated '1724'. Elongated shape not typical of a bastle. Probably post-bastle period though inherited some bastle traditions in masonry and wall thickness (Ryder 1990). (Northumberland HER)

House. C17, altered and extended 1724. Large random rubble blocks; extended in ashlar. Welsh slate roof. Two storeys, 3 bays with lower 2-storey, one- bay extension on right.
C20 central door in chamfered alternating-block surround with lintel dated 1724; the lintel, though, is newer than the jambs. Right jamb has date 1817 scratched in. C20 casements in C18 chamfered surrounds. Steeply-pitched gabled roof with corniced end stacks.
Interior: walls c.40 inches thick. Several 2-panel doors. Staircase with stick balusters and turned newels. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1044834
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1388239.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N8112.

Books
- Ryder, Peter, 2004, 'Towers and bastles in Northumberland National Park' in Frodsham, P., Archaeology in the Northumberland National Park (CBA Research report 136) p. 262-271
  Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 337
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. 56-7
  Grundy, J., 1987, The Historic Buildings of the Northumberland National Park p. 309

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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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Help is acknowledged.

*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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