Titlington Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NU09871509
Latitude 55.43013° Longitude -1.84557°

Titlington Tower has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Documents written in 1541 mention a ruined tower at Titlington. There is no sign of a medieval motte and bailey at Titlington Hall today, although a mound in the garden is traditionally thought to have been the site of the motte. It is more certain that a pele tower stood on the site. The pele tower was either completely demolished or incorporated into a new house in 1745. In 1824, the 1745 building was demolished and replaced. (Keys to the Past)

In a survey made in 1541 it is stated that at Titlington there was a 'little tower of the princes inheritance decayed'... belonging to the suppressed monastery of Kyrkehm (Hodgson 1924).
The site of Titlington Hall is a nearly level piece of ground on a saddle between Titlington and Jennys Lantern Hill. Here there seems to have stood a small motte and bailey a short distance S of the present mansion with the front lawn on the site of the bailey. At some date in the middle ages the motte was lowered and a pele tower erected; its enclosure extended North eastwards c 75 yards where the traditional site of the gateway is marked by a small mound and hawthorn tree. In 1745 Roger Pearson either cleared away or altered the pele and built a house whose surviving trace is the date 1745 cut at the W corner of the (present) building (Dodds 1935). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 4900.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N3160.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 148
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 99
  Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlisle) p. 117
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 342
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 326
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 163
  Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1935, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 14 p. 447
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 42 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
Periodical Articles
- Hodgson, J.C., 1924, 'The Manor and Township of Titlington' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser3) Vol. 21 p. 9
  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. 7 abridged transcription
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 42 online copy

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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.

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