Raby Old Lodge (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Langley Dale

In the civil parish of Raby With Keverstone.
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: NZ09022218
Latitude 54.59474° Longitude -1.86197°

Raby Old Lodge has been described as a probable Pele Tower.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

Defensible house. Probably late medieval for Neville family of Raby Castle. Late C19 porches. Coursed pinkish coarse sandstone rubble with quoins, boulder plinth and ashlar dressings; main roof not visible; stone-flagged roof on extension, with gable coping. L-plan. 3 storeys, 2 wide bays, with left set-back one-storey, one-bay extension, and rear porch. South elevation: partly-glazed door to right of centre in chamfered irregular-block surround; flanking inserted paired windows have lattice leading; similar C20 glazing to irregular fenestration, with 2 rectangular lights in chamfered surrounds on each upper floor. Embattled parapet, on concave-moulded string, has corbelled machicolation over door, and octagonal stone chimney at centre of left bay. Left extension has filleted boarded door in inner return of porch breaking forward at left, and paired C19 sashes at right. Left return of main block has part plinth, butt join and diagonal mark suggesting former external stone stair of which lower part projected from gable; hollow- chamfered window above. Left return of extension has boulder plinth except to porch; gable has chamfered coping, raised at apex. Right return of main block has one window on each upper floor. Rear has blocked 2-light ground- floor window opposite door; small light at left on first floor; blocked second- floor light; corbelled chimney to left of centre on second floor. Rear wing has 3 inserted windows; embattled porch in inner return with stop-chamfered low-2-centred-arched surround to studded door. Interior reported by occupant to have 10 ft. wide, 6 ft. deep stone-arched ground-floor fire; 2-storey upper floor with gallery. (Keys to the Past–ref Listing building description)

In Langley dale, is a tower on a fine mount, an ancient outpost and guard to the castle: this was the residence of a favourite lady, occasionally visited by one of the Earls of Westmorland; it is close upon the banks of the brook, the vale is romantic, and this bower well situated for retirement, and secret amour. (Hutchinson)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1338624
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 20004.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) D13832.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Abaroth's World
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles and Tower Houses of County Durham (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 54
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 136
  Corfe, Tom (ed), 1992, 'The Visible Middle Ages' in An Historical Atlas of County Durham p. 28-9
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 136
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Hutchinson, Wm, 1785-94, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham Vol. 3 (Durham) p. 330 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Denham, M.A. 1859, 'The Old Lodge, Raby' Teesdale Record Society Journal (ser3) Vol. 6 p. 21
  Knowles, 1933, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser4) Vol. 6 p. 37-8
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 154
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 75 online copy

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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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*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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