Coupland Bridge 1 (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Warcop; Copeland

In the civil parish of Murton.
In the historic county of Westmorland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Westmorland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY70971898
Latitude 54.56511° Longitude -2.45051°

Coupland Bridge 1 has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a probable Pele Tower.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

On the right-hand side of the road going towards Appleby, near Couplandbeck bridge was a "round fortification", internal diameter 40 paces, with walls about 10 yards thick. The stones, red in colour, were strongly cemented with lime and sand. (PastScape ref. Nicolson and Burn)

A small distance from Coupland Beck bridge, there was, in ancient times, a round tower, or castle, the diameter of which, within the walls, was forty places, "and the thickness of the walls including rubbish, was ten yards." Opposite to this fortification was an hospital, founded probably by one of the Veteriponts, the ancient-lords of the great barony of Westmorland. (Mannix and co 1851)

Mound (called Roman Fortress on O.S.) on the N. side of the Appleby-Brough road, W. of Hilton beck, has been formed by cutting a slight ditch on a natural spur and steepening the scarps. The work forms an oval, about 60 ft. by 40 ft., with a rampart carried round, except on the S. side. (RCHME 1936)

Earthwork remains of an oval mound measuring 60ft by 40ft. Masonry was visible on the site in C18. It is possibly a motte. Scheduled as an earthwork. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1007177, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number cu272
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 14890.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1816.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
Books
- Sowerby, R., 1950 (2edn), Historic Kirkby Stephen and North Westmorland p. 60
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 179 no. 9 online transcription
  Mannix and Co., 1851, History, Topography and Directory of Westmorland (Beverley) p. 194-5 online copy
  Nicolson, J. and Burn, R., 1777, History and Antiquites of Cumberland and Westmorland Vol. 1 p. 610 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Ewbank, J.M. (ed), 1963, Antiquary on Horseback: The first publication of the collections of the Rev. Thos. Machell (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 19)

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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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