Waterhead Bastle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Water head

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY76769010
Latitude 55.20454° Longitude -2.36664°

Waterhead Bastle has been described as a certain Bastle.

There are masonry footings remains.

Description

Remains of bastle south east of 19th century cottage. Rectangular building 7m wide x c.15m long; walls of heavy rubble. The lower part of the south east end wall, 1.6m thick and with a central slit vent, is incorporated in a later field wall. A recent trench across the north east end revealed a wall 2m thick pierced by a drain (Ryder, P F 24-JUL-1990 Field Investigation).
First mentioned in 1552; listed in 1568 as part of the Northumberland moiety of Tarset Manor; raided in 1583; inhabited by the Hunters in the 17th century. Held as Bog Head in 1749 and 1766; marked on Armstrong's map of 1769; not listed in 1770. Home of a labourer in 1850. The bastle remains as a mound between the cottage and the field. One gable end is clearly visible in the field wall (Long 1988). (Northumberland HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1090854.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N7072.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Tarset Archive Group
  CastleUK.net
Books
- Grint, Julia, 2008, Bastles an introduction to the bastle houses of Northumberland (Hexham: Ergo Press) p. 62-4
  Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 300
Periodical Articles
- Christopherson, R., 2011, 'Northumberland bastles: origin and distribution' Medieval Settlement Research Vol. 26 p. 21-33 (listed in appendix)
  Lax, Amy, 1999, 'Border Troubles and Border Farmers: A study of Bastle Houses in the Upper Tarset Valley, Northumberland' Northern Archaeology Vol. 17/18 p. 165-72
  Graham, A., 1945-6, 'Notes on Some Northumbrian 'Peles' Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Vol. 80 p. 37-43 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.)
- Bain, J.G. (ed), 1894, Calendar of Letters and Papers Relating to the Affairs of the Borders of England and Scotland (Edinburgh) Vol. 1 p. 109 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- The Archaeological Practice Ltd., 2004, 'Tarset and Greenhaugh Northumberland an archaeological and historical study of a border township' Northumberland National Park Historic Village Atlas p. 42-3 (slight) (The Northumberland National Park Authority) online copy
  Ryder, P.F., 1990, Bastles and Towers in the Northumberland National Park (Report for Northumberland National Park Authority) p. 41
  Long, B., 1988, List of Ancient Monuments - The Kielder Forests. Unpublished (Forestry Commission)

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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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