Combe in 'Cumberland' (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Coome: Cowholm

In the civil parish of Half Morton .
In the historic county of Dumfriesshire.
Modern Authority of Dumfries And Galloway.
1974 county of Dumfries and Galloway.
Medieval County of Debatable Lands.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY337721
Latitude 55.03904° Longitude -3.03932°

Combe in 'Cumberland' has been described as a Pele Tower although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a probable Bastle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Ruins of a possible stonehouse or tower.
Shown on the 1590 map as a tower at 'Coome', (identified as Cowholm) and as a house on the 1607 platt. Cole states that 'foundations are easily traced on a 5-6m high bankhead just east of Staffler Flow.'
Cole supposes 'a small stonehouse or bastle may have justified inclusion on both maps of the 1590s'. He describes the site and gives documentary references.
Cole states 'the likelihood of archaeological survival on this... now deserted site, is good.' (Perriam and Robinson 1998)

A map of 1590 places the tower of 'Coome' on the E side of the River Sark, but it more probably stood W of the river in the vicinity of the farmstead of Cowholm, which is noted (at NY 337 721) on the first edition of the OS 6-inch map (Dumfriesshire, sheet lix, 1862). (Cowholm is not noted on the 1976 edition of the OS 1:10,000 map). (Canmore)

Comments

Vanished tower shown on map of 1590 as Coome on the east of the River Sark. As with Grenewich (Greenrigg), also shown as east of the river, probably lay just west of the river in Scotland, but sometimes located as in Cumberland. It is also possible the River Sark has changed course a little moving the site from the east to the west bank. Almost certainly some form of bastle. Not a gentry status 'pele-tower'.
It is uncertain what Cole's foundations were or where they are exactly located.
The suggested site and remains are in Scotland and, although this area is called 'the debatable lands' because the area was contested the River Sark does make a clear natural boundary. In practice inhabitants of such houses probably felt much closer to their kinship alliances than any relation to the crown of either England or Scotland.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1389997; 67568 (Canmore).
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Canmore (RCAHMS) entry
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 99 (slight)
  RCAHMS, 1997, Eastern Dumfriesshire: an archaeological landscape (Edinburgh) p. 314, No. 1262
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 229
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 92
  RCAHMS, 1981, The archaeological sites and monuments of Ewesdale and Lower Eskdale, Annandale and Eskdale District, Dumfries and Galloway Region (The archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland series No. 13: Edinburgh)
  Hyslop and Hyslop, J. and R., 1912, Langholm as it was: a history of Langholm and Eskdale from the earliest times (Sunderland; Edinburgh; Glasgow) p. 320
  Jeffrey, A., 1864, History and Antiquities of Roxburghshire Vol. 4 p. 232 (facsimile of map) online copy
Periodical Articles
- Graham, T.H.B., 1914, 'The Debatable Land Part II' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 14 facing p. 148 online copy online copy of 1607 platt online copy of 1552 map
  Ellis, H., 1829, 'Copy of a manuscript tract addressed to Lord Burghley, illustrative of the Border topography of Scotland, AD 1590, with a platt or map of the Borders taken in the same year' Archaeologia Vol. 22 p. 161-71 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.)
- 1590, A Platt of the opposete Borders of Scotland to ye west marches of England (The Aglionby Platt) British Library online Gallery and Old Cumbria Gazetteer (see also Gatehouse Essay 'The Aglionby Platt')
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Cole, J.R., 1982, A survey of the Debatable Land and Glen Tarras c. 1449-1620 (Thesis for Manchester University) p. 65-6

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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.

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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