Highfield farm bastle, Tarset (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
High feelde

In the civil parish of Tarset.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.
Medieval County of Northumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY75269061
Latitude 55.20901° Longitude -2.38983°

Highfield farm bastle, Tarset has been described as a Bastle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

Description

a second pele is incorporated in the farmhouse itself, this (the Pele) appears to be of a late type (Clarke).
The farmhouse Highfield is now the property of the Forestry Commission and is undergoing restoration prior to occupation. External and internal inspection of the building and enquiries of the Regional Forester, Mr W Scott, revealed no traces or knowledge of a pele tower (F1 FDC 31-AUG-1956).
Highfield Farm is an over-restored house stylistically of the 17th and 18th century. The house is long and narrow with thick walls. One of the outbuildings has a late 17th/early 18th century doorway with bolection moulding and it may have come from the house(?) (Long 1988).
Highfield Farmhouse consists of a rectangular block c.22m by 6m, with a later rear outshut and rear wing. The walls are of squared rubble with large angle quoins, and appear to be c.0.8m thick. Most of the present fenestration is relatively modern, but there are a number of blocked windows in the south front (on both ground and first floor levels), and a pair of small attic lights high in each gable end. Interior not seen, but there is said to be a thick cross wall midway along the range and some interesting features in the attic. Built into the rear (north) side of a byre on the north side of the farmyard is a reset doorway with a moulded surround (with a curious asymmetry to the lintel) of early 18th century character. The house appears to be of the early 18th century (Ryder 1994-5). (Northumberland HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 15876.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N23004.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Tarset Archive Group
Books
- Grint, Julia, 2008, Bastles an introduction to the bastle houses of Northumberland (Hexham: Ergo Press) p. 64 (reject)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 361
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 161
Periodical Articles
- Christopherson, R., 2011, 'Northumberland bastles: origin and distribution' Medieval Settlement Research Vol. 26 p. 21-33 (listed in appendix)
  Lax, Amy, 1999, 'Border Troubles and Border Farmers: A study of Bastle Houses in the Upper Tarset Valley, Northumberland' Northern Archaeology Vol. 17/18 p. 165-72
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Bain, J.G. (ed), 1894, Calendar of Letters and Papers Relating to the Affairs of the Borders of England and Scotland (Edinburgh) Vol. 1 p. 109 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- The Archaeological Practice Ltd., 2004, 'Tarset and Greenhaugh Northumberland an archaeological and historical study of a border township' Northumberland National Park Historic Village Atlas p. 42-3 (slight) (The Northumberland National Park Authority) online copy
  Ryder, P.F., 1994-5, Towers and Bastles in Northumberland Part 4 Tynedale District Vol. 2 p. 139-40
  Long, B., 1988, List of Ancient Monuments - The Kielder Forests. Unpublished (Forestry Commission)
  H F Clarke Essex Arch Soc (Author of The Towers & Fortified Houses of Northum 1905 - 1956 Private work unpublished)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio