Ford Parsons Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Vicars Pele; Forde

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NT94383742
Latitude 55.63035° Longitude -2.09074°

Ford Parsons Tower has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

Ruined medieval tower house, known as Parson's Tower, situated south west of Ford Castle. It was the home of the local parson and as such was always separate from the nearby castle. The remains comprise the basement stage of a tower built of coursed, squared, sandstone blocks, with chamfered set-back or plinth visible on three sides. The tower is almost square in plan, measuring 10.1m by 10.5m externally, stands about 3.65m high and has walls about 2m thick enclosing a single chamber. Internally, the basement is covered by an east-west barrel vault and many bear masons marks. Various sockets and rooflines can be traced in the stonework externally and are associated with later buildings attached to the tower. These buildings no longer survive. Since the medieval period the tower is reported as having been totally demolished in 1663, rebuilt in 1725 and enlarged in 1825. (PastScape)

Parson's Tower survives in good condition and retains significant medieval remains.
This monument includes the ruined medieval tower house, known as Parson's Tower, situated south west of Ford Castle. It was the home of the local parson and as such was always separate from the nearby castle. The remains comprise the basement stage of a tower built of coursed, squared, sandstone blocks, with chamfered set-back or plinth visible on three sides. The tower is almost square in plan, measuring 10.1m by 10.5m externally, stands about 3.65m high and has walls about 2m thick enclosing a single chamber. The entrance lies in the east wall and gives access to a lobby, with an inner and outer doorway, and to a mural stair (steps built within the thickness of the wall). Internally, the basement is covered by an east-west barrel vault and many stones bear masons' marks. The remains of two small openings, or loops, are visible in the north and south walls, that on the north concealed internally by later thickening of the wall. Various sockets and rooflines can be traced in the stonework externally and are associated with later buildings attached to the tower. These no longer survive. The tower is a Grade II Listed Building. Documents first record a tower at Ford in 1541 and describe its partial destruction by the Scots before Flodden (1513). It was associated with the parsonage and was rebuilt by Sir Cuthbert Ogle, mentioned as rector of Ford in 1516. During the next 300 years the tower is reported as having been totally demolished in 1663, rebuilt in 1725 and enlarged in 1825. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1018372, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 31705
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1370989
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 3649.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N1813.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- North of the Tyne
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
  CastleUK.net
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Harrison, Peter, 2004, Castles of God (Woodbridge; Boydell Press) p. 67
  Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 85
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 57
  Graham, Frank, 1993, Northumberian Castles Aln, Tweed and Till (Butler Publishing) p. 28
  Pevsner, N., 1992 (revised by Grundy, John et al), Buildings of England: Northumberland (London, Penguin) p. 283-4
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 11
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 334
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 167-8
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 106-7
  Vickers, Kenneth H. (ed), 1922, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 11 p. 362-3 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Fawcett, R., 1976, 'Ford, Parson's Tower' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 133 p. 192
  1891-2, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser2) Vol. 5 p. 64-5
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.
- Ryder, P.F., 1994-5, Towers and Bastles in Northumberland Part 2 Berwick District p. 16-17
  Ryder, P.F., 1990, The Parson's Tower, Ford Unpublished

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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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*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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