Moresby Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NX98342098
Latitude 54.57375° Longitude -3.57411°

Moresby Hall has been described as a probable Pele Tower.

There are uncertain remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Large house. Overall courtyard plan. Date and development. 3 main building phases. (i) Late medieval, built for the Moresby family which died out in the male line in 1499, and possibly incorporating a tower to the NW with a hall range attached to the E. There is insufficient evidence to reconstruct the medieval plan. (ii) Late C16/early C17, built for the Fletcher family who bought the estate in 1576; this phase involved a radical remodelling of the older house with associated refenestration and re-roofing, and the principal dating features are the double-chamfered windows under hood moulds. The house had definitely assumed a courtyard plan by this phase. (iii) Late C17 (c.1670-90), the remodelling of the S range (heightened and re-fronted with rusticated ashlar), again for the Fletcher family possibly to designs by William Thackery or Edward Addison. C18 and C19 modifications. … The right-hand element in this elevation now forms the gable end of the W. range (with internal end stack, coped gable with kneelers, garage entrance). It is highly likely that this part of the house (ie the NW corner) incorporates a medieval pele tower served by a still surviving newel in the SE angle. W. elevation (all phases). The former pele and W. range all under the same roof with ridge stack. … One unadorned slit window lights pele tower newel and is probably medieval. Interior. With the exception of the S range, very little early work survives or is visible although much is probably concealed. Of the medieval work (other than undetailed masonry) only the newel of the pele is visible rising from ground to attic. There is evidence suggestive of a second newel to the inner SE angle of the building. The pele was re-roofed along with the W range in the second phase (2 bays visible, tie beam, collar, staggered purlins, pegged throughout). (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1137268
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 8599.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 4473.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Moresby Hall
  Visit Cumbria
  CastleUK
  Wikipedia entry
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 108-9 (plan)
  Cooper, Nicholas, 1999, Houses of the Gentry, 1480-1680 (Yale University Press) p. 234, 235, 249, 274, 275
  Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 75
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 48 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 89
  Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p. 135-137
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p. 164
  Whellan, W., 1860, The History and Topography of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Pontefract: W.Whellan and Co.) p. 413-421 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Tyson, Blake, 1984, 'Work of Wm Thackeray' Transactions of the Ancient Monument Society Vol. 8 p. 61-92 (on later house)

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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.
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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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*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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