Kirkandrews Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Kirkandrews upon Esk; Tom Greme; Kirkander; Kirkanders

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY38917192
Latitude 55.03812° Longitude -2.95735°

Kirkandrews 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

House, formerly tower house. C16 replacing earlier tower, for the Graham family, with C18 and C20 alterations. Thick red sandstone rubble walls on chamfered plinth with large flush quoins, corbelled parapets with projecting water spouts; steeply pitched gabled slate roof with parapet, end stone chimney stacks. 3 storeys, 2 bays. C20 first floor door in roll moulded architrave, reached by C19 external stone steps; entrance to basement below has plank door and similar architrave. Small original window to left of entrance; 2 similar windows on 2 levels above have been blocked. Partly blocked C18 openings, on 3 levels to left, with C20 casements. Rear wall has large C18 blocked window; C19 window to left, other windows are C20. Interior has vaulted basement originally reached by trap door from first floor. Newel staircase in thickness of wall beside entrance. (Listed Building Report)

House, formerly tower house. C16 replacing earlier tower, for the Graham family, with C18 and C20 alterations. Thick red sandstone rubble walls on chamfered plinth with large flush quoins, corbelled parapets with projecting water spouts; steeply pitched gabled slate roof with parapet, end stone chimney stacks. 3 storeys, 2 bays. C20 first floor door in roll moulded architrave, reached by C19 external stone steps; entrance to basement below has plank door and similar architrave. Small original window to left of entrance; 2 similar windows on 2 levels above have been blocked. Partly blocked C18 openings, on 3 levels to left, with C20 casements. Rear wall has large C18 blocked window; C19 window to left, other windows are C20. Interior has vaulted basement originally reached by trap door from first floor. Newel staircase in thickness of wall beside entrance. (PastScape ref. Field Investigators Comments F1 RD 16-JUL-70)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1205396
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 10859.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 4575.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Visit Cumbria
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 232 (plan)
  Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 67
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 43
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 87
  Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p. 110-12
  Pevsner, N., 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth: Penguin) p. 147
  Hugill, R.,1939, Borderland Castles and Peles (1970 Reprint by Frank Graham) p. 141-2
  Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 380-2
  Taylor, M.W., 1892, Old Manorial Halls of Westmorland and Cumberland (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 8) p. 352 online copy
  Jeffrey, A., 1864, History and Antiquities of Roxburghshire Vol. 4 p. 232 (facsimile of map) online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 207 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Dixon, P., 1979, 'Towerhouses, Pelehouses and Border Society' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 136 p. 247
  Philip Dixon, 1974, 'Hillslap tower, masons, and regional traditions' History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club Vol. 40.1 p. 128–141 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
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1552, the Debatable Land, Cumberland and Scotland, with lines of proposed divisions online copy (Tom greme)
  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')
  1607, Platt of the Forrest of Nicholl and the Mannor of Liddale, Arthurett and Randelinton with the Debatable groundes online copy (Kirknanders)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Cole, J.R., 1982, A survey of the Debatable Land and Glen Tarras c. 1449-1620 (Thesis for Manchester University)

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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.
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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.

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.

*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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