Whitlees Bastle (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY95989263
Latitude 55.22793° Longitude -2.06458°

Whitlees Bastle has been described as a probable Bastle.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Bastle house now used as store. C16 or early C17; reduced in height and re- roofed C19. Massive random rubble with boulder plinth; Welsh slate roof. c.38 x 20 ft. C18 or early C19 double door to right of centre. To left on ground floor a small square window with chamfered surround and grid of 4 iron bars. Small square blocked window above.
Blocked ground-floor doorway on right return has slightly chamfered alternating- block-surround and lintel with relieving arch over.
Interior: walls c.54 inches thick up to c.7 ft then offest by c.9 inches to support the 1st floor. Blocked gun loop on west wall. Vestiges of 1st floor fireplace at east end. 2 square recesses in west end. (Listed Building Report)

The remains of a strongly built structure originally of two stories now converted into a barn, measures overall 11.5m by 7.4m. The walls are 1.3m thick at ground level, narrowing to 1.1m at first floor level. They are of uncoursed, unbounded stones with massive quoins at the corners. The original entrance, now blocked, is in the east end. The plan of the building and the absence of barrel vaulting suggest the structure to be a defended house rather than a Peel tower. Similar structures have been dated to the Tudor period (F1 ASP 17-MAY-1957)
In south wall is 19th century cart entrance, with small iron-grilled window to west; smaller blocked window above. Gables reduced (in 19th century although side walls seem to remain to their original height. This seems to be a defensible farmhouse with ground-floor accommodation, rather than a true bastle (F3 PFR 06-AUG-199).
A late 16th or early 17th century bastlehouse. Built of large roughly-coursed rubble, with Welsh slate roof. Reduced in height and now used as a store. Large 19th century or early 20th century double door cut through south wall. Original features include the dramatic masonry, one small square window with a chamfered surround and its original grille of iron bars (a very rare feature), and the blocked ground floor doorway under a relieving arch on the gable end. Walls are about 4 feet thick. There is an 18th or 19th century byre attached to left (Grundy 1987). (Northumberland HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1155121
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 19636.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N9780.

Books
- Ryder, Peter, 2004, 'Towers and bastles in Northumberland National Park' in Frodsham, P., Archaeology in the Northumberland National Park (CBA Research report 136) p. 262-271
  Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 330
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 120 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 361
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 3349
  Ramm, H.G., McDowall, R.W. and Mercer, E., 1970, Shielings and Bastles (London: HMSO) p. 86 No. 38
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 172
Periodical Articles
- Christopherson, R., 2011, 'Northumberland bastles: origin and distribution' Medieval Settlement Research Vol. 26 p. 21-33 (listed in appendix)
  Hadcock, R.N., 1939, 'A map of mediaeval Northumberland and Durham' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser4) Vol. 16 p. 148-218 esp 167
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Grundy, J., 1987, The Historic Buildings of the Northumberland National Park ELS23

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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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
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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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