Middleton next the sea Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

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: NU094354
Latitude 55.61311° Longitude -1.85134°

Middleton next the sea Tower has been described as a probable Pele Tower.

There are no visible remains.

Description

A 15th century list refers to a tower at Middleton (Hodgson 1820)
'Two stone houses or castells' were mentioned at Middleton in 1542. The present Middleton Hall is modern, but the old hall which stood at the bottom of the present pleasure ground, where there are two sycamores, might have been one of them. The foundations of an old fortalice in the adjacent field represent the remains of the other (Hardy 1885)
There are no visible remains of either tower or of the old hall, and the former 'pleasure garden' with its two sycamores is unknown to the Agent (Greenwich Hospital Estates) and could not be traced (F1 BHP 07-NOV-1968). (Northumberland HER)

Comments

Tower recorded in the list of 1415, when it belonged to William Muschamp. Gone by 1715.
There seems to have been a turris at Middleton by the sea in 1415 well supported by the tenurial history given in the NCH. What form this was is, of course, unknown but in the context of the list is likely to be a fairly large solar tower attached to an unfortified hall rather than a tower house. It is not recorded in the later C16 surveys, The 1715 survey of John Warburton says the 'handsome house; had formerly an old tower' which suggests there may have been some relics of the tower still in 1715. Dodds (p. 62) seems to suggest parts of the tower existed until 1880 when the current house was built but his source for this unclear.
What seems fairly clear however is that the reference to two stone houses does not belong in this record.
There are several Middletons in Northumberland and identification of which Middleton is meant in the primary sources is not certain. The 1415 list specifically states Turris de Middilton iuxta mare which is clearly a different location from the Turris de Northmidileton also listed. The 1541 survey (misdated by Hodgson as 1542) records "The towneshippe of Mydleton Hall ... hath in yt two stone house or bastells the one of th'inheritaunce of Robt Rotherforthe & thother of John Rotherforthe" in the East March but the context of that list would make that site Middleton Hall in Earle near Wooler at NT989253, which is not near to the sea.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 6052.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N3738.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Middleton Hall (with the erroneous confabulated history)
Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 61-2
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 115 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 351
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 234
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 134
  Bateson, Edward (ed), 1893, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 1 p. 397 online copy
  Hodgson, J., 1820, History of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Part 3 Vol. 1 p. 30 online copy
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 19 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
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
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 19 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.)
- 1415, Nomina Castrorum et Fortaliciorum infra Comitatum Northumbrie online transcription

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