Brackenthwaite (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Brakenthweyt in Gillesland; Longwhaythughill

In the civil parish of Cumrew.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY54685314
Latitude 54.87096° Longitude -2.70752°

Brackenthwaite has been described as a probable Bastle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

Barns adjoining Manor House, with core of original Manor House. Earliest part is probably late C16 bastle type house; date of 1632 with initials I.A. over entrance may be contemporary with adjoining buildings to right; extensively altered and extended to left in late C18, with inscription over entrance James & Margaret Atkinson and date, which could be 1793, but now partly erased. Mixed sandstone rubble walls, common graduated green slate roof. 2 storeys and numerous bays, built on slope, so appears as single storey to rear. Central bays are original house with extremely thick walls. Late C16 entrance has chamfered red sandstone surround, chamfered and shaped lintel stone, with later irregularly incised date and initials; slightly splayed jambs on inside, have 2 sets of drawbar holes. Walls appear to have been refaced in the late C18, so all other original features are now hidden and replaced by slit vents. (Listed Building Report)

A barn at Brackenthwaite is defined as a bastle derivative based upon the lintel, drawbar and also the holes for the upper floor windows. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1335600
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1389629.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 5751.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 102 (slight)
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 137 (plan)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Graham, T. H. B. (ed.), 1934, The barony of Gilsland. Lord William Howard's survey, taken in 1603 (Feild-Booke yt explaines all the Map Booke for Gilsland taken in 1603) (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 16) p. 87

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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.

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.

*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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