Hawick Bastle, Bavington (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hawike; Hawyke

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY96318234
Latitude 55.13781° Longitude -2.06035°

Hawick Bastle, Bavington has been described as a certain Bastle.

There are no visible remains.

Description

A survey of 1541 refers to a 'Bastell House' at Hawick (Bates 1891).
A small area of fragmentary banks and ground disturbance centred NY 963825, in a field known as 'Chapel Hill', indicates some depopulation, but the remains are neither coherent nor extensive. There are no visible traces of the bastle, but a rectangular platform at NY 96278255 may represent its site (F1 BHP 10-JUL-1968).
The vill of Hawick was a member of the lordship of Bolbec. In the 13th century it was held by the lords of Bolam. A certificate of 1584 recorded that four 'decays' had taken place since 1535, suggesting either depopulation or the impoverishment of tenants. It had no separate entry in the Hearth Tax of 1666. In a Survey of 1734 six families were recorded. Armstrong's map of 1769 showed four buildings. Only one farmhouse remains. Most of the earthworks seen by Hodgson seem to have been obliterated. The eastern boundary of the village is clearly defined by ridge and furrow and a perimeter bank. A few earthworks are visible to the west of the bank, including a rectangular enclosure and a possible sunken way. Most of Chapel Hill is under ridge and furrow, except for the summit itself which probably marks the site of the chapel (Wrathmell 1975).
Hawick Bastle, in list of 1541, no trace remains. Site occupied by farm (Long 1967).
Hodgson records chapel remains having been found in the 18th century east of the village. Finds included a holy water basin and some bones. Wrathmell notes a 13th century charter recording St Katherine's chapel at Hawick (Prothero 1994). (Northumberland HER)

At Hawyke ys a bastell house of thinherytau'ce of one ...... Bellyngiam in good rep'ac'ons (Bates 1891 quoting survey of 1541)

Comments

The 1541 Survey tends to concerned with larger defensible houses and the term 'bastell' tends to be used for larger houses (c.f. Doddington Bastle). Of the lost sites in that survey most are in areas of better farming lands and center of somewhat more wealthy estates, the later development of which may explain their disappearance. However the tenant in 1542 'Bellingham' does not seem to be a gentry status individual so this may have been somewhat smaller than Doddington but probably larger than the pele-house type bastles of the higher lands.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 19398.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N9548.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 246
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 51
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 349
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 194
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 116
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 46 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  Hodgson, J., 1827, History of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Part 2 Vol. 1 p. 250 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 46 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
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Prothero, D.H., 1994, A Survey of Kirkwhelpington and Ridsdale Areas, Northumberland. Unpublished S3
  Wrathmell, S., 1975, Deserted and Shrunken Villages in Southern Northumberland from the Twelfth to the Twentieth Centuries. Unpublished PhD Thesis Cardiff p. 403-4

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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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