Bowness on Solway (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Bolness; Bolnes; Bulnesse; Bownes; Old Rectory

In the civil parish of Bowness.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY22416257
Latitude 54.95201° Longitude -3.21334°

Bowness on Solway has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Bowness Tower is listed by Curwen as a 14th century Peel Tower, first mentioned in 1539, and stated to have belonged to the parsonage in 1580.
Graham presumes that this was the building which stood near the gate to the present rectory, and whose foundations were so solid that gunpowder had to be used to demolish them in 1860. (PastScape)

The rector of Bowness on Solway dwelt in a fortalice close to the churchyard wall, the vestiges of which were only recently demolished.
In 1464 William Raa, registrar of the diocese of Carlisle, made this entry in the bishop's accounts of that year: ' De fine rectoris de Bowness pro una litera questandi pro reparacione unius domus defensionis ibidem non respondet hie quia conceditur per dominum gratis' (Diocesan MS.). Leland says that 'Bolnes ys at the Poynt or Playne of the Ryver of Edon wher ys a lytle poore Steple as a Fortelet for a brunt, and yt ys on hyther syde of the Ryver of Edon, abowt a viii. myles from Cair Luel'. In a survey of Border fortresses made by Christopher Dacre in 1580, the condition of 'Bownes Towre' is thus described: 'This house or towre doth belonge to ye parsonage theire, standing about 4 miles west and by north from ye said house of Drumburghe adioyning to the sea criek wch devideth ye English and Scotesche borders and the furthest parte towardes ye west, yt ye Scotts may enter otherwise then by botinge, and about a mile and a half over the same criek to Scotland at a full sea, a place of small receipt and yet very necessairy for defence of ye parte of the Border, partly decayed, the charges of wch reparacon with a plattforme for ordinance wch were necessarie to be made upon ye same towre is esteamed to £40 and without the platforme to £10 ' (S. P. Dom. Eliz. Add. xxvii. 44 (3)). A wall of this tower was standing close to the rectory in 1856. (VCH)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 10102.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 163.

Books
- Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 60 (plan)
  Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 96 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 92
  Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 255
  Wilson, J. (ed), 1905, VCH Cumberland Vol. 2 p. 257 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Perriam, D.R., 1988, 'Bowness Rectory tower (documents relating to ?late 14th/early 15th century bastle)' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 88 p. 193-200 (plan) online copy
  Wilson, J., 1923, 'The Passage of the Border by Aeneas Sylvius in the winter of 1435-6' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 23 p. 25 online copy
  Graham, T.H.B., 1911, 'Extinct Cumberland Castles (Part III)' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 11 p. 240-1 online copy
  Ellis, H., 1829, 'Copy of a manuscript tract addressed to Lord Burghley, illustrative of the Border topography of Scotland, AD 1590, with a platt or map of the Borders taken in the same year' Archaeologia Vol. 22 p. 161-71 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.)
- Green, M.A.E. (ed), 1872, Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Elizabeth, Addenda 1580-1625 (HMSO) p. 17-18 no. 44 online copy
  1590, A Platt of the opposete Borders of Scotland to ye west marches of England (The Aglionby Platt) British Library online Gallery and Old Cumbria Gazetteer (see also Gatehouse Essay 'The Aglionby Platt') (see also Gatehouse Essay 'The Aglionby Platt')
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 93
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 50 online copy

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