Amrita Cottage, Ireshopeburn (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Stanhope.
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: NY867391
Latitude 54.74686° Longitude -2.20858°

Amrita Cottage, Ireshopeburn has been described as a probable Bastle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

House, probably originally a defensible house. C16, possibly incorporating earlier fabric, with alterations. Rubble with irregular plinth; quoins, some massive; ashlar dressings. Roof of C20 tiles with brick chimneys. 2 low storeys, 4 bays. 2 steps up to boarded door under flat stone lintel in third bay; C20 sashes with glazing bars under flat stone lintels, some renewed, and with thin projecting stone sills. Blocked door at left; blocked narrow window at-centre of first floor. Rear elevation has blocked Tudor-arched doorway, with large irregular jambs supporting lintel with eroded inscription; one- storey, 2-bay pent outshut has large quoin. (Listed Building Report)

A thick, walled house which has been considerably altered. Amrita Cottage lies in the hamlet of West Blackdene, on the north bank of the Wear. The cottage, a Grade II Listed Building. It was first recognised as a potential historical building in a 1987 list which sees it as 'C16, possibly incorporating earlier fabric' and 'probably originally a defensible house'. The house measures c15 by 6.4m externally, with a walls of coursed rubble c 0.85 m thick and a thick cross-wall set a little east-of-centre. Despite extensive alterations in the mid-20th century, this is a interesting building. Its relatively thick walls and the small size of the original windows certainly suggests it was built with an eye to defence, but it is not a conventional bastle house. (Durham HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1232348
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1396229.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) D3492; D3498.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The Durham Record
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles and Tower Houses of County Durham (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 63 (slight)
Periodical Articles
- Ryder, P.F., 1994, 'Bastles in Weardale' The Bonny Moor Hen: The Journal of The Weardale Field Study Society No. 7 p. 4

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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.

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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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