Melmerby Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
la tourre de Melmorby

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY611373
Latitude 54.72969° Longitude -2.60488°

Melmerby Hall has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are no visible remains.

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

Comments

In about 1322 it is recorded that 'John de Denum kept a garrison of twelve men at his tower of Melmerby', however, see King (2007) about this expenses claim. John was petitioning for a garrison of 12 men but had previous kept the tower with an unspecified force. In effect he was petitioning for a sum in excess of £200 p.a. (much over his own expected annual income). The endorsement was 'Take advice on any marriage, wardship or farm and certify to the king therein, and he by good council will make any award by which he has the power to better keep (the tower) to the saving of the land.' This does not suggest that the petition was certainly granted and the tower garrisoned although it seems likely Denum got some funding. In another petition of about the same time (SC8/105/5206) Denum is described as king's sergeant and was asking for the expenses due to him whilst on the king's service.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1372279
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 509687.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 5642.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  Visit Cumbria
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 73
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 126 (plan)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 93
  Fraser, C.M. (ed), 1981, Northern petitions, illustrative of life in Berwick, Cumbria and Durham in the fourteenth century (Surtees Society 194), p. 137
  Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 307
  Wilson, James (ed), 1905, VCH Cumberland Vol. 2 p. 255 online copy
Periodical Articles
- King, Andy, 2007, 'Fortress and fashion statements: gentry castles in fourteenth-century Northumberland' Journal of Medieval History Vol. 33 p. 381
  McIntire, W.T., 1930, 'Proceedings ' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 30 p. 212-3 online copy
  Graham, T.H.B., 1929, 'Margaret de Wigton' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 29 p. 81-90 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.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1893, Calendar of Close Rolls Edward II (1313-1318) Vol. 2 p. 237 (1315) view online copy (requires subscription but searchable) alternative online copy
  National Archives SC8/105/5208 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Richard Singleton manuscript of 1677 in the Machell manuscripts Collections for the history of Westmoreland and Cumberland

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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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