Lowick Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Bastle Corner; Lowyke; Lowicke; Lawkye

In the civil parish of Lowick.
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: NU01373962
Latitude 55.65012° Longitude -1.97978°

Lowick Tower has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are no visible remains.

Description

The tower at Lowick was built in the second half of the 14th century and in 1388 is mentioned as being in the extent of Sir Alan Heton's land at Lowick. c1514 it was intimated that the tower could lodge 80 men, and in 1580 was in need of repair. In 1584 the cost of repair was estimated at £50. The site of the tower is not known, but the north corner of Lowick Hall Farm (NU01373962) is called by old people Bastle Corner, and was probably its site (Dodds, 1935).
No trace of a tower in the position indicated or in any of the buildings in the vicinity. The evidence of siting is apparently purely traditional (F1 EG 17-NOV-55).
The tower or bastle was built, along with a chapel, before 1415 to lodge travellers to Lindisfarne. Raids in the area virtually ceased after 1380, so the tower may have been a deterrent then. By 1541 the tower was damaged, and although recommended for repair in 1581, it was not repaired. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 6130.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N3685.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 49-50
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 351
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 11, 23
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 133-4
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 231
  Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1935, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 14 p. 85-6
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 17, 23 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
Periodical Articles
- Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 17 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.)
- 1584, Report of the Commissioners on the Borders (1584) under Lord Hunsdon; largely the work of Christopher Dacre. Online transcription
  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
  1509, Holdis and Towneshyppes too lay in Garnysons of horsmen Survey of Tevedale
  1415 Nomina Castrorum et Fortaliciorum infra Comitatum Northumbrie online transcription

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.

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.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio