Brackenhill Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Braconhill

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY44576948
Latitude 55.01677° Longitude -2.86838°

Brackenhill Tower has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

Brackenhill Tower is a fortified Border tower house, its importance stemming from the fact that it is a unique example of a Scottish-style tower sitting on English soil. It was built in 1584, for the Graham family, replacing an earlier tower which may have dated to C13 or earlier. Constructed from large blocks of red sandstone rubble, the external elevations are virtually unaltered from its original state. The walls are five ft thick and rise to forty ft in height and there is a double gabled slated roof which is surrounded by a corbelled and battlemented parapet. In 1717, the fifth Richard Graham constructed a brick cottage to the south east of the tower. These are the earliest signs of the site being consolidated. There is no evidence of the sort of alterations which would have been expected such as the enlargement of windows, when what was essentially a medieval tower continued in use as a Georgian house. One alteration was the insertion of the present west doorway of the basement and possibly the superstructure of the tower at attic level as the two end chimneys look to be of this date. It remains uncertain whether the roof trusses are contemporary with the stacks or were later alterations in 1860. Towards the end of C18 the property was sold to the Stephenson family, (the family name later changed to Standish), who built a new dining room and kitchen. In 1860 the tower and the cottage seem to have adjoined corner-to-corner, with a physical internal link, and a porch was added at the front of the original tower. It appears that the tower and cottage were linked together to form a hunting lodge. The ground of Brackenhill contains a planned hunting landscape which was commissioned by the Standish family specifically for recreational hunting. By the end of World War II the Carlyle family were the tenants and in 1946, when the Standish Estate was put up for sale, the Carlyle's acquired the Brackenhill Estate. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1087521
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 11561.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 206.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Brackenhill Tower
  Visit Cumbria
  BBC Cumbria
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 227 (plan)
  Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 21
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 35-6
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 82
  Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p. 42-3
  Brunskill, R.W., 1971, Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture p. 29
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p. 74
  Hugill, R.,1939, Borderland Castles and Peles (1970 Reprint by Frank Graham) p. 51
  Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 352-3
Periodical Articles
- 2007-8, Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 21 p. 123 (news report)
  Anon, 2005, 'A Turbulent History: Brackenhill Tower near Longtown, Cumbria NY445695' Castle Studies Group Newsletter Vol. 7 p. 2
  Philip Dixon, 1974, 'Hillslap tower, masons, and regional traditions' History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club Vol. 40.1 p. 128–141 online copy
  1930, 'Addenda Antiquaria' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 30 p. 225-6 (pedigree of Grahams of Brackenhill) online copy
  Graham, T.H.B., 1914, 'The Debatable Land Part II' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 14 facing p. 148 online copy online copy of 1607 platt online copy of 1552 map
  Martindale, 1908, 'Proceedings' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 8 p. 375-6 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.)
- 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')
  Blaeu, J., 1654, 'Cumbria vulgo Cumberland' in Theatrum Orbis Terrerum, sive Atlas Novus, Vol.5; Scotice et Hibernia (Amsterdam) Map online copy (Original mapping by Timothy Pont in c. 1607)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 North West (London: English Heritage) p. 26 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 North West (London: English Heritage) p. 35 online copy
  Kirsty Wark (Presenter), 1995, One Foot in the Past (BBC TV Programme) YouTube video

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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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Help is acknowledged.

*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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