Humbleton Tower, Akeld (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NT975285
Latitude 55.54988° Longitude -2.03955°

Humbleton Tower, Akeld has been described as a probable Pele Tower, and also as a Bastle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Comments

Said to have been in the village, which is now a small hamlet of half a dozen properties but did have a medieval chapel. The precise location of this 'old pile' is lost as is its exact nature. The presence of a chapel may suggest Humbleton could have had a gentry status residence so it could have been a small chamber tower attached to a hall but the relatively late date might alternatively suggest this was a 'pele house' (i.e. a bastle) of somewhat less social status, although generally these are not included in the C16 surveys.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 2728.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N1557.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 69
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 115 (slight)
  Graham, Frank, 1993, Northumberian Castles Aln, Tweed and Till (Butler Publishing) p. 33-4
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 350
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 218
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 125-6
  Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1935, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 14 p. 165
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 78-9 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
Periodical Articles
- Hodgson, J.C., 1916, 'List of Ruined Towers, Chapels, etc., in Northumberland; compiled about 1715 by John Warburton, Somerset Herald, aided by John Horsley' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser3) Vol. 13 p. 6 abridged transcription
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 78-9 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online

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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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