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The Gatehouse website record of

Skinburness (Skinburness)

a location shown on a 1590 map of the West Marches of Scotland (The Aglionby Platt)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Skinburgh

In the civil parish of Silloth On Solway.
In the historic county of Cumberland, England.
Modern Authority of Cumbria, England.
1974 county of Cumbria, England.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY13585634
Latitude 54.89430° Longitude -3.34896°

The given map reference is suggested as the probable location of Skinburness shown on the Aglionby Platt.

There are uncertain remains.

The likely form(s) of this building in 1590 are;

  • Pele House ('bastle').

A section of the 1590 Aglionby Platt. Image reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland
Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland
Description

Tower or stonehouse site.
Shown as a tower symbol on the 1590 map.
Further work necessary to establish the site. (Perriam and Robinson 1998)
Comments

It is difficult to really known what the symbols on the 1590 map actually meant. They mainly refer to sites that are now lost and which were never gentry status sites. This suggests these were not pele towers. It is more likely they were some form of bastle or stonehouse. The lack of survival of such houses in this area, as opposed to their fairly frequent survival in the higher Pennine lands, may reflect the good agricultural quality of this land producing wealth (once the area was politically stabilised and decriminalised) which allowed for the building of brand new farmhouses and farmbuildings in the C18/C19.
Presumably this was at or near to the borough of Skinburgh which was swept out to sea in 1305, though some earthworks of that town may remain. The 'tower' post-dated the town.
PastScape records 'Air photographs reveal earthworks that may be the remains of substantial walls (centred at NY 1358 5634), which may be part of the port described above. There is also evidence of possible building foundations (NY 1362 5639) and it is uncertain whether these are associated with the Grange or port. (Oblique aerial photograph reference number NMR NY1356/25 (17339/10) 27-JUL-1999)' Are any of these possible buried walls related to this lost building?
Either of the features seen on an air photograph may have been this tower. The 'tower' is not mentioned in the online NMR record or listed, as a defensible building, in the Cumbria HER mapping data. It may be recorded in the paper versions of these records.
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
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Air Photos > 
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Sources of information, references and further reading
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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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This record created on 09/05/2015 07:56:04; This record last updated on 17/09/2015 10:44:21

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