Lowther Castle Stead (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castlesteads; Castellum de Lauudre

In the civil parish of Lowther.
In the historic county of Westmorland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Westmorland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY51892412
Latitude 54.60994° Longitude -2.74636°

Lowther Castle Stead has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a probable Pele Tower.

There are masonry footings remains.

Description

Castlesteads, earthwork, 360 yards S. of the church, forms a rectangular enclosure about 30 yards by 24 yards. It probably represents the overgrown foundations of a pele-tower or other mediæval building.
Condition—Bad. (RCHME 1936)

Earthworks of a rectangular enclosure in Lowther Park. PastScape report suggests it probably represents the overgrown foundations of a Medieval pele tower or other Medieval building. Field investigations carried out in 1966 found it to be in good condition. (PastScape)

The site is a large 30m by 25m rectangular ramparted enclosure with very substantial ramparts 4-5m thick with 2m wide tops and standing to 3m in height. At the south-eastern corner the ramparts stand to 4m in height and are much thicker, possibly being the location of a tower. There are possibly two entrances, one in the south and the other in the east. There may be collapsed debris in the interior. The predominantly earthwork form of the structure, the paucity of collapsed masonry and the possible twelfth century date would suggest that this was not a peel tower. It is too small to have been a motte and bailey, but could have been a timber ringwork castle. (LUAU)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 12131.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3832.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 72
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 290
  Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carlisle: Carel Press) p. 72-3
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p. 160
  Smith, A.H., 1967, Place Names of Westmorland. Part II: The barony of Westmorland, analyses, index, maps (English Place Name Society 43) p. 184
  RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 160 no. 2 online transcription
  Curwen, J.F., 1932, 'Parishes (West Ward): St Michael, Lowther' The Later Records relating to North Westmorland: or the Barony of Appleby (Kendal: CWAAS Record Series 8)p. 329 online transcription
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Manuscripts of the Reverend Thomas Machell, vicar of Kirkby Thore (d 1698) Vol. 3 p. 37 (preserved at the Cumberland Record Office)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, March 1997, Arch Survey (Lowther Estate)

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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.

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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