Tillmouth Tower, Cornhill-on-Tweed (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Tilmowthe; Tilmouth; Tylemouth

In the civil parish of Cornhill on 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: NT87004290
Latitude 55.67949° Longitude -2.20828°

Tillmouth Tower, Cornhill-on-Tweed has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Site of the deserted medieval settlement of Tillmouth, which included a tower built between 1415-1496, and described as ruinous in 1561. All that now remains of the site are narrow ditches of uncertain date, visible as faint cropmarks on aerial photographs. (PastScape)

A survey of 1542 mentions a tower in the town of "Tylemouth" which stood on the west side of the river Till near where it flows into the Tweed (Hodgson). The tower at Tillmouth was destroyed by James VI. in 1496, a survey of 1561 describes it as a little tower or pile much decayed with a little barmkin about it. A survey of 1715 refers to Tillmouth as a small village in which are the ruins of an ancient chapel (Bates). The area in the vicinity of the chapel is arable land. There are no visible remains of either the village or the tower (F1 EG 03-NOV-55). Narrow ditches of uncertain date are visible as faint cropmarks on aerial photographs centred at NT870 428. A long ditch running between NT8716 4281 and NT8690 4283 and abutted by shorter ditches coincides with the given location of the site of Tillmouth village (Oblique aerial photograph reference number NMR NT 8742/45 (2233/11) 20-JUL-1982). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1379.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N971.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 32
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 115 (slight)
  Graham, Frank, 1993, Northumberian Castles Aln, Tweed and Till (Butler Publishing) p. 42
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 354
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 326
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 162
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 22, 52 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  Raine, J., 1852, History and Antiquities of North Durham (London) p. 326
  Hodgson, J., 1828, History of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Part 3 Vol. 2 p. 178 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 22, 52 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.)
- 1561, The Survey Booke of Norham and Ilandshire, taken and made in the 3rd year of our Sovereign Lady Elizabeth, Queen of England, etc. Survey of Norham and Islandshire
  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.
- Dixon, P.J., 1984, The Deserted Medieval Villages of North Northumberland Vol. 2 (PhD Thesis: University of Wales) p. 582-3

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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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