Peel tower
Encyclopedia
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
s or tower house
Tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation.-History:Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountain or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces...
s, built along the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
borders
Border Country
Border Country is a novel by Raymond Williams. The book was re-published in December 2005 as one of the first group of titles in the Library of Wales series, having been out of print for several years. Written in English, the novel was first published in 1960.It is set in rural South Wales, close...
in the Scottish Marches
Scottish Marches
Scottish Marches was the term used for the Anglo-Scottish border during the late medieval and early modern eras—from the late 13th century, with the creation by Edward I of England of the first Lord Warden of the Marches to the early 17th century and the creation of the Middle Shires, promulgated...
and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fire
Beacon
A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location.Beacons can also be combined with semaphoric or other indicators to provide important information, such as the status of an airport, by the colour and rotational pattern of its airport beacon, or of...
s could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger. By an Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
in 1455, each of these towers was required to have an iron basket on its summit and a smoke
Smoke signal
The smoke signal is one of the oldest forms of communication in recorded history. It is a form of visual communication used over long distance.-History and usage:...
or fire signal, for day or night use, ready at hand.
A line of these towers was built in the 1430s across the Tweed
River Tweed
The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is long and flows primarily through the Borders region of Great Britain. It rises on Tweedsmuir at Tweed's Well near where the Clyde, draining northwest, and the Annan draining south also rise. "Annan, Tweed and Clyde rise oot the ae hillside" as the Border saying...
valley from Berwick
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
to its source, as a response to the dangers of invasion from the Marches
Marches
A march or mark refers to a border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales. During the Frankish Carolingian Dynasty, the word spread throughout Europe....
. Others were built in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, Cumberland, Westmorland
Westmorland
Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...
and North Riding of Yorkshire
North Riding of Yorkshire
The North Riding of Yorkshire was one of the three historic subdivisions of the English county of Yorkshire, alongside the East and West Ridings. From the Restoration it was used as a Lieutenancy area. The three ridings were treated as three counties for many purposes, such as having separate...
, and as far south as Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, in response to the threat of attack from the Scots and the Border Reivers
Border Reivers
Border Reivers were raiders along the Anglo–Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. Their ranks consisted of both Scottish and English families, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality...
of both nationalities.
Apart from their primary purpose as a warning system, these towers were also the homes of the Laird
Laird
A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...
s and landlord
Landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...
s of the area, who dwelt in them with their families and retainers, while their followers lived in simple huts outside the walls. The towers also provide a refuge so that, when cross-border raiding parties arrived, the whole population of a village could take to the tower and wait for the marauders to depart.
In the upper Tweed valley, going downstream from its source, they were as follows: Fruid, Hawkshaw, Oliver
Oliver Castle
Oliver Castle was a small tower house, located in the upper Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders, within the bounds of the village of Tweedsmuir. The castle was originally part of the line of peel towers along the Tweed Valley. It was replaced in the seventeenth century by a house on the same site,...
, Polmood
Polmood
Polmood is a small settlement in southern Scotland near Tweedsmuir in the Scottish Borders, in the valley of the River Tweed.Polmood was for many centuries the centre of the Hunter family in the lowlands and the earliest record was a charter dated 1057 to Norman Hunter of Polmood. It was once a...
, Kingledoors
Kingledoors
Kingledoors is a group of settlements in a valley in southern Scotland near Tweedsmuir in the Scottish Borders, in the valley of the River Tweed...
, Mossfennan
Mossfennan
Mossfennan is a small settlement in southern Scotland near Drumelzier in the Scottish Borders, in the valley of the River Tweed.Mossfennan is a wooded area part of the parish of Glenholm. There was once a peel tower at Mossfennan. Also near Mossfennan are the remains of a Bronze age burial cairn...
, Wrae Tower
Wrae Tower
Wrae Tower is a ruined 16th century stone tower house, located in the upper Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and similarly south of the village of Broughton. The ruin is at grid reference , 3km south-west of Drumelzier. Only a fragment of the north-east corner stair tower,...
, Quarter, Stanhope
Stanhope
-Places:* Stanhope, Victoria, Australia* Stanhope, Prince Edward Island, Canada* Stanhope, Quebec, Canada* Stanhope, County Durham, England, UK* Stanhope, Kent, England, UK* Stanhope, Peeblesshire, Scotland, UK* Stanhope, Iowa, US* Stanhope, New Jersey, US...
, Drumelzier
Drumelzier
Drumelzier , is a village on the B712 in the Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders.The area of the village is extensive and includes the settlements of Wrae, Stanhope, Mossfennan and Kingledoors. To the north is Broughton and to the south the road passes Crook Inn to Tweedsmuir.The Drumelzier or...
, Tinnies, Dreva, Stobo, Dawyck, Easter Happrew, Lyne
Lyne, Scottish Borders
Lyne is a small village and civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, west of the market town of Peebles; it lies off the A72, in the old county of Peeblesshire and has an area of about ....
, Barnes, Caverhill, Neidpath
Neidpath Castle
Neidpath Castle is an L-plan rubble-built tower house, overlooking the River Tweed about 1 mile west of Peebles in the Borders of Scotland. The castle is closed to the public.-History:...
, Peebles
Peebles
Peebles is a burgh in the committee area of Tweeddale, in the Scottish Borders, lying on the River Tweed. According to the 2001 Census, the population was 8,159.-History:...
, Horsburgh, Nether Horsburgh Castle
Nether Horsburgh Castle
Nether Horsburgh Castle is a ruined tower house near Cardrona, in the Scottish Borders, in the former county of Peebleshire. It is situated at the back of a farmstead, southwest of the market town of Peebles, at grid reference , on the A72 road...
, Cardrona
Cardrona, Scottish Borders
Cardrona is a village on the A72 and B7062, between Peebles and Innerleithen, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland.Places nearby include Glentress, Kirkburn, Scottish Borders, Kirkhouse, Traquair, Walkerburn-See also:*Cardrona Forest...
.
Peel towers are not usually found in larger places which have a castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
, but in smaller settlement
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
s. They are often associated with a church: for example Embleton Tower
Embleton Tower
Embleton Tower is a peel tower and Grade I listed building in the village of Embleton in Northumberland, England. Tradition states that in 1395, the tower was built to protect the minister and church goers of Embleton's Church of the Holy Trinity after the village suffered from a raid by the Scots...
in Embleton, Northumberland
Embleton, Northumberland
Embleton village in the English county of Northumberland is about half-a-mile from the bay that carries its name. The sandy beach is backed by dunes where a variety of flowers bloom: bluebells, cowslips, burnet roses and, to give it its common name, bloody cranesbill, amongst others. Dunstanburgh...
is an example of a so-called vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
's pele and the one at Hulne Priory
Hulne Priory
Hulne Priory is a monastery founded in the 13th century by the Carmelites, or "White Friars" which was one of the Orders of Mendicants, bound by their rule to live in extreme poverty. It is said that the Northumberland site, quite close to Alnwick, was chosen for some slight resemblance to Mount...
is in the grounds of the priory
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
. Hawkshaw, ancestral home of the Porteous family
Porteous family
-History:The earliest records for members of the Porteous family in Peeblesshire date back to the early part of the fifteenth century.The earliest possible reference, according to Lord Lyon King of Arms in Edinburgh, is to a Guillaume Porteuse , who arrived from Normandy c 1400 under the patronship...
at Tweedsmuir in Peeblesshire, a peel tower dating from at least 1439, no longer stands but its site is marked by a cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
.
Nowadays some towers are derelict while others have been converted for use in peacetime; Embleton Tower
Embleton Tower
Embleton Tower is a peel tower and Grade I listed building in the village of Embleton in Northumberland, England. Tradition states that in 1395, the tower was built to protect the minister and church goers of Embleton's Church of the Holy Trinity after the village suffered from a raid by the Scots...
is now part of the (former) vicarage and that on the Inner Farne
Farne Islands
The Farne Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Northumberland, England. There are between 15 and 20 or more islands depending on the state of the tide. They are scattered about 2.5–7.5 km distant from the mainland, divided into two groups, the Inner Group and the Outer Group...
is a home to bird wardens. The most obvious conversion needs will include access, which was originally difficult, and the provision of more and larger windows. A Peel tower featured in an episode of Grand Designs
Grand Designs
Grand Designs is a British television series produced by Talkback Thames and broadcast on Channel 4 which features unusual and often elaborate architectural home-building projects....
(Series 7 / 2007) showing the conversion from a derelict state to a home and a bed-and-breakfast business.
See also
- Tower houseTower houseA tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation.-History:Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountain or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces...
- Bastle houseBastle houseBastle houses are a type of construction found along the Anglo-Scottish border, in the areas formerly plagued by border Reivers. They are farmhouses, characterised by elaborate security measures against raids...
- Manor houseManor houseA manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
- Unthank HallUnthank HallUnthank Hall is a Grade II listed mansion house, situated on the southern bank of the River South Tyne east of Plenmeller, near Haltwhistle, Northumberland....
- Corby CastleCorby CastleCorby Castle is an ancestral home of the Howard family situated on the southern edge of the village of Great Corby in northern Cumbria, England....
- Dovenby HallDovenby HallDovenby Hall is a Grade II listed country house in Dovenby, about north-west of Cockermouth, Cumbria, England. The estate totals .- History :...
- Embleton TowerEmbleton TowerEmbleton Tower is a peel tower and Grade I listed building in the village of Embleton in Northumberland, England. Tradition states that in 1395, the tower was built to protect the minister and church goers of Embleton's Church of the Holy Trinity after the village suffered from a raid by the Scots...
- Gawthorpe HallGawthorpe HallGawthorpe Hall, a Lancashire County Council property managed by the National Trust is an Elizabethan house near the town of Padiham, in the borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England...
- KentmereKentmereKentmere is a valley, village and civil parish in the Lake District National Park, a few miles from Kendal in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It is historically part of Westmorland...
- Turton Tower