Corbridge Vicars Pele (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Corbridge Vicarage

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY98846441
Latitude 54.97429° Longitude -2.01942°

Corbridge Vicars Pele has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are major building remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Towerhouse vicarage, c.1400 except for gabled roof of 1910. Large squared stones, mostly re-used Roman material; stone slate roof. Pointed-arched doorway on east has old door of oak boards bolted into iron grille. Scattered fenestration, small chamfered loops except for larger trefoil-arched lights to north and south at 1st floor level. Hollow chamfered cornice below crenellated parapet (largely fallen except on south); remains of corbelled-out square angle bartizans. Several C18 headstones affixed to north and west walls, including stone to John Robson d. 1753; semicircular pedimented top enclosing cherub above line of key ornament.
Interior: drawbar tunnel in inner jambs of entrance; similar arch from entrance lobby into barrel-vaulted basement. Mural stair to lobby with shelf and sink. 1st floor has window seats on north and south, fireplace with moulded surround on north and 2 wall cupboards on west. Further mural stair to 2nd floor (floor timbers missing) which has mural bookrest recess adjacent to window of north- west corner.
The tower now houses a collection of medieval and earlier carved stones; in addition a number of medieval cross slabs have been re-used in the fabric, mostly as lintels over windows and the mural stairs.
The best preserved vicar's pele in the county; in use as the vicarage until the early C17. (Listed Building Report)

The tower is mentioned as the Vicar's property in the list of fortalices drawn up for Henry V in 1415. There is no record of its erection, but it is of c. 1300 style, all of one date and well-constructed of sandstone, being rectangular in plan, measuring 27' 4" E-W and 21' 0" N-S. The height to the parapet walk is 30'0". The building comprises a vaulted basement and two upper storeys; the entrance doorway is in the east side at ground level (Knowles 1898).
Many of the stones in the tower have cramp holes and have been obtained from the Ro. station at Corstopitum (Craster 1914). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006604, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number nd77
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1044750
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 18476.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N8991.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Castleuk. net
Books
- Geldard, Ed, 2009, Northumberland Strongholds (London: Frances Lincoln) p. 24
  Durham, Keith, 2008, Strongholds of the Border Reivers (Oxford: Osprey Fortress series 70) p. 25-6
  Harrison, Peter, 2004, Castles of God (Woodbridge; Boydell Press) p. 70-3 (plan)
  Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 439-40
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 38
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 72-3
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 180-1
  Graham, F. 1992, Hexham and Corbridge: A Short History (Corbridge), 445
  Pevsner, N., 1992 (revised by Grundy, John et al), Buildings of England: Northumberland (London, Penguin) p. 237
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 86-7
  Cramp, R. 1984, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture in England (Oxford), 239-40
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 331
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 213-4
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 117-8
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 87
  Toy, Sidney, 1953, The Castles of Great Britain (Heinemann) p. 191-2
  Hugill, R.,1939, Borderland Castles and Peles (1970 Reprint by Frank Graham) p. 79-81
  Craster, H.H.E. (ed), 1914, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 10 p. 209-15 (plans and elevations) online copy
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 376 online copy
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 18 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
Periodical Articles
- Prestwich, M.C., 1982, 'English Castles in the Reign of Edward II' Journal of Medieval History Vol. 8 p. 159-178 (reprinted in Liddiard, Robert (ed), 2016, Late Medieval Castles (Boydell Press) p. 303-322)
  Milner, L. 1976, 'Corbridge, the Vicar's Tower' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 133 p. 197
  Knowles, W.H. 1898, 'The Vicar's Pele, Corbridge' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 19 p. 171-8 (plans) online copy
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 18 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
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Northumberland County Council, 2008, 'Corbridge' Northumberland Extensive Urban Survey doi:10.5284/1000177 download copy
  Ryder, P.F., 1994-5, Towers and Bastles in Northumberland Part 4 Tynedale District Vol. 1 p. 58-9

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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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*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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