Bathers Tower, Spittal (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hospital of St Bartholomew; Twedemouth

In the civil parish of Berwick upon Tweed.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NU005518
Latitude 55.75956° Longitude -1.99358°

Bathers Tower, Spittal has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Site of a 13th century leper hospital. The leper hospital of St. Bartholomew at Spittal by Tweedmouth was founded AD 1234 and a tower or peel, referred to in 1612 as Bathes Tower, was erected for protection in 1369. The tower was in good condition in 1541, and as late as 1612, when it was referred to as Bather's Tower. Its location is unknown, but several human bones have been periodically found in the 18th century in an area which was part of Spittal Hall farm. (PastScape)

This is the site of a hospital for lepers built in 1234. A stone tower was built for protection from Scottish raiders in 1369. However, the building has long been demolished and nothing can be seen at the site today. (Keys to the Past)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 6566.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N4135.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 51
  Graham, Frank, 1993, Northumberian Castles Aln, Tweed and Till (Butler Publishing) p. 43
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 329
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 164
  Clay, R.M. 1909, The Medieval Hospitals of England (London) p. 312 online copy
  Raine, J., 1852, History and Antiquities of North Durham (London) p. 246-7
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1541 View of the Castles, Towers, Barmekyns and Fortresses of the Frontier of the East and Middle Marches Survey of the East and Middle Marches

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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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