Cobby Castle, Tow Law, (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Tow Law.
In the historic county of Durham.
Modern Authority of Durham.
1974 county of County Durham.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ13533939
Latitude 54.74934° Longitude -1.79124°

Cobby Castle, Tow Law, has been described as a Pele Tower although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Keys to the Past (The online Durham county SMR) record once read "The site is noted as an antiquity on Ordnance Survey maps of the 1960's and early 70's. It does not appear on the 1st edition, nor on the most recent (1987 at the time of writing). No mention is made in VCH/OS or Pevsner. The area was extensively open-cast between 1968 and the early 1980's. An enigma with no visible evidence remaining." However the record now reads "This site was noted as an ancient site on the 1st and later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps. No mention is made of it in other books about the archaeology or history of this area. Open cast mining between 1968 and the early 1980s has damaged the area. This site is poorly understood and there are no remains visible."

Comments

Does appear as Cobby Castle in the 1860 edition of the 6"OS (but not as an antiquity) with the possible look of a small tower from the ground plan, certainly no sign of moat or earthworks on map. On a ridge end in a position which may have been defensible or, equally been a position which gave a mean farmstead a somewhat more imposing air. The modern map shows a footpath leading to the site but there is no evidence on the air photo of the building or the footpath. Jackson puts it in his reject list and calls it a ruinous farmhouse.

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) D3386.

Books
- Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlisle) p. 72

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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.

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.
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