Low Angerton Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ09508434
Latitude 55.15334° Longitude -1.85228°

Low Angerton Hall has been described as a certain Bastle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Solitary form bastle, 6.7m wide, with side walls 1.05m thick and end wall 1.1m thick. Byre entrance in gable end wall (Ryder 1990).
The ruins of a bastle lie in gardens to the north east of a 19th century house. All that remains is the lower part of the west end and adjacent pieces of the side walls. The walling, which stands to a maximum height of 2.5m, is of large roughly-shaped and roughly-coursed blocks, with very large quoins. In the centre of the west end is the blocked byre doorway, which has a semicircular-arched head (cut from two triangular blocks) and a drawbar tunnel in the north jamb. No other features survive. The remains of a cottage of late 18th or early 19th century date stand on the same alignment as the bastle, c.7m to the east. The south west corner of the cottage has a large boulder in its footing, which might indicate either a second bastle, or possibly the position of the east wall of the first.
This is an isolated bastle and an unusually easterly example. The arched doorhead is of a form more common in Allendale (Ryder 1994-5). (Northumberland HER)

The bastle north east of Low Angerton is reasonably well preserved and retains significant archaeological deposits. It is a rare example of a bastle in the eastern part of Northumberland.
The monument includes a bastle situated in gardens north east of Low Angerton House. The bastle is constructed of large roughly shaped and roughly coursed stone blocks, measures 10.5m east-west by 6.7m, with walls standing to a maximum height of 2.5m. It comprises the lower part of the west wall and 4m to 5m lengths each of the north and south walls; the east wall is traceable as a slight earthwork and at the south east a corner stone is visible through the turf. The standing walls are built on a boulder plinth. In the centre of the west wall is a blocked byre doorway with a semicircular arched head cut from two large blocks of stone. There is a drawbar tunnel in the north jamb and two iron hinges in the south jamb. The monument stands next to an adjacent building on the east side, which is not included in the scheduling. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1016710, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 31722
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1241201; 1387710.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N10596.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 254
Periodical Articles
- Christopherson, R., 2011, 'Northumberland bastles: origin and distribution' Medieval Settlement Research Vol. 26 p. 21-33 (listed in appendix)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Ryder, P.F., 1994-5, Towers and Bastles in Northumberland Part 3 Castle Morpeth District p. 27
  Ryder, P.F., 1990, Northumberland Bastles Survey Unpublished p. 6

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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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