Catterlen Old Hall, Newton Reigny (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY47793214
Latitude 54.68166° Longitude -2.81107°

Catterlen Old Hall, Newton Reigny has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Prominent grass covered building platform with boulder foundations, this is the site of C12 tower house, cross hall and south wing which preceeded the present Catterlan Hall. (PastScape)

Despite the lack of upstanding medieval fabric, the site of Catterlen Old Hall tower house survives reasonably well and remains unencumbered by modern development. It is a good example of the site of an early tower house which was subsequently abandoned in favour of a nearby replacement, and will contain evidence for the buildings which were occupied from the 12th to the 15th centuries.
The monument includes the remains of the 12th century Catterlen Old Hall tower house, the precursor of the 15th century Catterlen Hall tower house which stands a short distance to the south. It includes a prominent grass covered building platform up to 1m high and measuring approximately 30m by 20m. At the northern end of this platform are the boulder foundations of the tower. It measures approximately 17m by 13m and contains a large central hollow considered to have been the cellar or basement. At the southern end of the platform there are further boulder foundations indicating the position of a south wing which measured approximately 15m by 10m. There are also faint traces of the foundations of a cross hall which would have connected the tower with the south wing. The building is thought to have been constructed c.1170 by John Vaulx, Knight of Catterlen. It was replaced c.1460 by the present Catterlen Hall tower house which was built by William de Vaulx. This abandonment of an existing medieval tower house in favour of the construction of a nearby replacement is paralleled elsewhere in the locality, notably at Blencow and Hutton John. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1012815, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 23777
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1043689.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 5862.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog and Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 38 (mention)
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 198

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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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