Detchant Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Ditchend; castle of Dichante; Detchon

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NU086364
Latitude 55.62195° Longitude -1.87380°

Detchant Tower has been described as a certain Tower House.

There are no visible remains.

Comments

Thomas Lilburn's "castle of Dichante" mentioned in the 1415 survey of the county's fortifications, was later altered to read "fortalicium". Remains noted in 1715. There are no visible remains. Recorded as pele tower in PastScape but certainly a good sized tower house if not a castle. The site is not known but likely to be under one of the buildings in Detchant of which the C18 Old Farmhouse at NU0867736492 which stand upon a hill in a prominent position is a likely candidate.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 6049.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N3737.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 60-1
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 114 (slight)
  Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlisle) p. 139
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 347
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 127
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 10, 21, 91
  Bateson, Edward (ed), 1893, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 1 p. 402 online copy
  Hodgson, J., 1820, History of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Part 3 Vol. 1 p. 27 online copy
Periodical Articles
- 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. 5 abridged transcription
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

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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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