Whitley Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Whitleye

In the civil parish of Whitley Bay.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of North Tyneside.
1974 county of Tyne and Wear.
Medieval County of Northumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ35507207
Latitude 55.04191° Longitude -1.44595°

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

There are no visible remains.

Description

Gilbert de Whitley applied to King Edward III to fortify his manor house. He received his licence, and built a tower, probably demolishing the manor house, and building on the same site. It is listed in the 1415 survey, but not in 1541. A couple of very old maps have a tower marked on them, but not with any great precision. It appears to have been a little inland from the Table Rocks, perhaps just south of the roundabout where the A191 meets the A193 road, close to the old North Shields Waterworks. (PastScape)

The Northumberland County History records that "Gilbert de Whitley received royal licence on April 9th, 1345, to crenellate his manor house at Whitley. The tower recurs in the list of castles and fortalices drawn up in 1415, but probably soon fell into disuse, as there is no mention of it in the survey of 1538, and no tradition survives as to its site. Gilbert de Whitley was an expert military architect, holding the office in 1356, of master and supervisor of the king's work in the castle of Newcastle". A manor-house is marked in the centre of the south row on the first edition Ordnance Survey map - the tower could have been its predecessor, but other sites are also possible, such as on the north side in the area of the present Whitley House. (Tyne and Wear HER)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1345 April 9 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1388390.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 726.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- North of the Tyne
Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 483
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 109
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
  Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlisle) p. 155
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 355
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 351
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 172
  Craster, H.H.E. (ed), 1907, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 8 p. 395 online copy
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 10, 16 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 414 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hodgson, J.C., 1916, 'List of Ruined Towers, Chapels, etc., in Northumberland; compiled about 1715 by John Warburton, Somerset Herald, aided by John Horsley' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser3) Vol. 13 p. 10 abridged transcription
  1891, The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend p. 22
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 10, 16 online copy
  (Longstaffe, W.H.D.), 1860, 'The New Castle upon Tyne (with illustrations)' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 4 p. 50 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.)
- 1415, Nomina Castrorum et Fortaliciorum infra Comitatum Northumbrie online transcription
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1902, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1343-45) Vol. 6 p. 446 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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