Cunswick Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Camswik; Coneswic; Coningeswyk

In the civil parish of Underbarrow And Bradleyfield.
In the historic county of Westmorland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Westmorland.

OS Map Grid Reference: SD48569334
Latitude 54.33112° Longitude -2.79261°

Cunswick Hall has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House, and also as a probable Pele Tower.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

C19 house, incorporating some C16 fabric. Two storeyed and built of stone rubble with a slate roof. Stands on the site of an earlier building, possibly a pele tower which is recorded as having been demolished circa 1582. Only a strong gate remains of the earlier building. (PastScape)

Cunswick Hall, house, gatehouse and outbuilding, 1 m. E.N.E. of the church. The House, which belonged to the Leyburne family, has been entirely re-built except for a portion of walling on the N. of the W. wing. This is of rubble and perhaps of early 16th-century date; it contains a stone window of two slightly pointed lights in a square head.
The Gatehouse, S. of the house, is a rubble building of two storeys. It is of 15th or early 16th-century date, but the two arches of the actual gateway have been re-built. Above the N. arch is a re-set stone with the Tudor royal arms, crown and garter. The upper storey has some skewed loop-lights and a semi-circular recess with a drain. The roof incorporates some old timbers. The square rubble building, E. of the gatehouse, was possibly a pigeon-house; the top has been reconstructed. It is of uncertain date.
Condition—Good. (RCHME 1936)

Gatehouse. Probably early C16, arches apparently rebuilt. Limestone walls and voussoirs; greenslate roof with stone ridges. Tudor arms with crown and garter above North Arch. Interior has curved tie-beams and remains of stair or possibly garderobe in thickness of wall. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1145721 , 1145720
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 41742.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 4110.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog and Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog and Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 97 (slight)
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 338 (plan)
  Palmer, J.H., 1944, Historic Farmhouses in and around Westmorland (Kendal) p. 36
  RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 230 no. 2 online transcription
  Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 365
  Taylor, M.W., 1892, Old Manorial Halls of Westmorland and Cumberland (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 8) p. 222-3 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Collingwood, W.G., 1926, 'An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Westmorland and Lancashire North-of-the-Sands' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 26 p. 29 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.)
- Saxton, Christopher, 1576, Map, Westmorlandiae et Cumberlandiae Comitatus ie Westmorland and Cumberland, scale about 5 miles to 1 inch, London, engraved by Augustinus Ryther, published 1579-1645. online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Hughes, E. (ed), 1962, Fleming-Senhouse Papers (Carlisle: Cumberland Record Series 2) p. 12

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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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