Also called peel towers. A form of fortified farmhouse or house of a significant, but not noble, person, such as a vicar or local knight, built with some defensive features both for genuine protection from raiding bands and for social prestige. These can be free-standing towers but are generally chamber (or solar) towers attached to other, unfortified, buildings such as the hall. The free standing form is more 'Scottish' and often later in date and are, in practice, rare. Many pele towers now appear free standing as they have lost their attached timber (or thin walled stone) halls, kitchens and other ancillary buildings. These gentry status building are generally said to be confined to the North of England but some similar moderate status fortified buildings, such a forester's lodges, do exist elsewhere in England and Wales.
Many authors dislike the use of pele in this sense and use the term 'tower house' for a wide range medieval and early modern multi-storey defensible buildings and there is a continuum in size and status between these buildings which can be used to justify that practice. However, the social status and function of these buildings is usually significantly different from the larger intergral Towerhouses and a differentation between gentry status pele towers and baronial tower houses is felt to be worthwhile.