Fenwick Tower, Matfen (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Fenwyk; ffenwicke

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ05747291
Latitude 55.05039° Longitude -1.91160°

Fenwick Tower, Matfen has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House, and also as a certain Pele Tower.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

Fenwick Tower was first mentioned in the mid-12th century, and it was fortified in 1378. The tower was sold to the Blackett family in 1659. All that remains of the tower are the lower part of the west wall and a section of the south wall, now built into the modern farmhouse. The walls are 2m thick and made of stone blocks. The basement is covered by a stone vault. The later farmhouse was probably built in C17, though the front is of early C19 date. The tower was probably mainly demolished in 1775, when a hoard of 226 medieval gold coins was found. (Keys to the Past)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1378 Nov 26 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1370708
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 20794.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N10358.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 276-8
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 55
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 200 (slight)
  Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlisle)
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 75
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 333
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 165-7
  Long, B., 1967, Castles in Northumberland (Newcastle) p. 106
  Hugill, R.,1939, Borderland Castles and Peles (1970 Reprint by Frank Graham) p. 106-7
  Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1926, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 12 p. 349-59
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Tomlinson, W.W., 1897, Comprehensive Guide to Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 84
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 10, 18, 28, 59 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 418 online copy
  Hutchinson, Wm, 1776, A View of Northumberland (Newcastle) Vol. 1 p. 135 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Ryder, Peter, 2002-03, 'Fenwick Tower Farm' Archaeology in Northumberland Vol. 13 p. 8
  Hodgson, J.C., 1916, 'List of Ruined Towers, Chapels, etc., in Northumberland; compiled about 1715 by John Warburton, Somerset Herald, aided by John Horsley' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser3) Vol. 13 p. 13 abridged transcription
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 10, 18, 28, 59 online copy
  1887-8, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser2) Vol. 3 p. 250
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1415, Nomina Castrorum et Fortaliciorum infra Comitatum Northumbrie online transcription
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1895, Calendar of Patent Rolls Richard II (1377-81) Vol. 1 p. 290 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 344
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 65 online copy

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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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*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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