Scrainwood Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Screnwood; Scenwood; Screenwood; Skrynwood; Scranwood; Screynwood; Scrynwood; Skranwood

In the civil parish of Alnham.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.
Medieval County of Northumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NT99180944
Latitude 55.37909° Longitude -2.01510°

Scrainwood Tower has been described as a probable Pele Tower.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

A tower and barmkin at Scrainwood are first mentioned in the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII (1509). They are described in the Survey of 1541, as being of the inheritance of John Horseley and kept in very good repair (Bates 1891).
Some years ago, the ruins of a large house with walls of great thickness, having pointed doorways and mullioned windows, besides other old foundations, were standing in the fields east of the present Screnwood House. It is very probable that these were the remains of the border tower and barmkin of the Horseleys (Dixon 1895).
NT 99180944 No traces of antiquity are visible in the present buildings at Scrainwood and Mr Snaithe the present occupier was unaware of the former existence of a tower there. The surface area of the south west portion of the field east of the house (referred to by Dixon), however is very disturbed and contains banks of earth and stones - generally of indeterminate shape. At NT 99150945 is the only feature recognisable as a building foundation. It consists of an enclosure 6m square formed by banks 1.8m wide and of 0.3m maximum height. Whether this was the tower is doubtful, but it appears likely that the tower did stand somewhere within the disturbed area - as suggested. The site is overlooked by higher ground from all directions except the south, but nowhere in the vicinity of Scrainwood is there an ideal defensive site for a tower (F1 DAD 01-MAY-1957)
It is possible to discern about three probable house platforms as stated in report of 30/5/57 but they are too amorphous to warrant survey. There is no trace of a tower or barmkin. Otherwise as described (F4 ISS 01-FEB-1977)
Scrainwood was a member of the barony of Alnwick. 1296: 12 taxpayers. But in 1377 the Poll Tax return recorded 33 adults. Armstrong's map of 1769 shows a farm and Mackenzie described it as a farmhold. D D Dixon records a tradition that there was 'a large house with walls of great thickness, having pointed doorways and mullioned windows, besides other old foundations, were standing in the green field east of the present Screnwood House'. Earthworks were recognised in the field to the east of the present farm at the above grid reference. Site of former tower was not ascertained (Dixon 1984). (Northumberland HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1440.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N1112.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 173
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 115 (slight)
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 34
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 352
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 312
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 153
  Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1935, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 14 p. 579-80
  Dixon, D.D., 1895, Whittingham Vale (R. Redpath) p. 56
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 22, 24, 43 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
Periodical Articles
- 1963, Medieval Village Research Group annual report App C No 122
  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. 3 abridged transcription
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 22, 24, 43 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.)
- 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
  Brewer, J.S. (ed), 1867, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII Vol. 3 p. 852 No. 1986 online copy
  1509, Holdis and Towneshyppes too lay in Garnysons of horsmen Survey of Tevedale
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Dixon, P.J., 1984, The Deserted Medieval Villages of North Northumberland Vol. 2 (PhD Thesis: University of Wales) p. 519-20

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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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