Bale Hill House, Wolsingham (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Baal Hill; Baylehilhouse

In the civil parish of Wolsingham.
In the historic county of Durham.
Modern Authority of Durham.
1974 county of County Durham.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ07443854
Latitude 54.74187° Longitude -1.88595°

Bale Hill House, Wolsingham has been described as a Palace but is rejected as such, and also as a probable Pele Tower, and also as a certain Bastle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

Baal or Bale Hill House situated one mile northeast of Wolsingham. It has exceptionally thick walls. The lower floor is occupied by a stone-roofed barrel vault, now divided across the middle. It has its entrance at the west end, which is a pointed arched doorway. It is said to have been the residence of the Bishop's bailiff, and there is a 1558 reference in the rolls of the Bishop's chancellor for a payment of £18 16s for the repair of 'the Lodge within the park of Wolsingham, otherwisae called Baylehilhouse'. This is where the name may originate from. The term 'bail hill' could also of course relate to an open-air lead-smelting furnace. There is no appearance of a moat, but the position in the landscape is strong. There is a reference to the repair of the "lodge", perhaps this house, in 1558. It is similar in form to a typical borders bastle but of an earlier date and finer architectural detail. (Durham HER)

Bastlehouse. Late C16 with additions and alterations. Thinly-rendered sandstone rubble with irregular quoins; stone-flagged roof with stone gable copings and stone and brick chimneys; Welsh slate roofs on front additions. 2 storeys raised to 3; 2 wide bays; one-storey front pent additions at each end. Right wing 2 storeys, 3 bays. Main house has long, wide flight of stone steps, with flat-coped side walls, to wide first-floor stone-walled porch, renewed double door and single inner door. Pent additions flank steps. First floor has C20 casements; second-floor 3-light casement at left. Right wing has 3 doors under flat stone lintels, and varied windows:- sashes, one horizontal casement, and fixedlight; 3 small square blocked windows at eaves. Left return has 2-centred-arched chamfered stone doorway, partly blocked and with Dutch door inserted; right return (of wing) has side steps to first-floor door under pigeon holes in gable peak. Interior: ground floor divided by stone wall; blocked 2-centred arch in right gable; barrel vault with possible ladder-hole beside left door. Boarded dado in first-floor entrance hall; stop-chamfered beams in first-floor rooms. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1232905
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 20080.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) D2177.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The Durham Record
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles and Tower Houses of County Durham (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 10
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 51-4
  Corfe, Tom (ed), 1992, 'The Visible Middle Ages' in An Historical Atlas of County Durham p. 28-9
  Pevsner, N., 1983 (Revised by Williamson, Elizabeth), Buildings of England: Durham (London, Penguin) p. 513
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 138
  Hugill, Robert, 1979, The Castles and Towers of the County of Durham (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p. 28
  Ramm, H.G., McDowall, R.W. and Mercer, E., 1970, Shielings and Bastles (London: HMSO) p. 66
  Conyers Surtees, 1929, History of the Parish of Wolsingham p. 42-3
Periodical Articles
- Ryder, P.F.,1994, 'Bastles in Weardale' The Bonny Moor Hen: The Journal of The Weardale Field Study Society No. 7 p. 4
  1896, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser2) Vol. 7 p. 246
  Featherstonehaugh, 1891-2, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser2) Vol. 5 p. 101-2

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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.

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*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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