West Ealingham Farmhouse (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NY84358079
Latitude 55.12135° Longitude -2.24573°

West Ealingham Farmhouse has been described as a probable Bastle.

There are no visible remains.

Description

West Ealingham Farmhouse is built on the site of a bastle, one of four evenly spaced along the 180m contour of the south-facing slope of Ealingham Rigg. (PastScape ref. Dodds 1999)

The bastle replaced by the farmhouse is the only one of the four devoid of ground evidence. The regular spacing of this and the others is unusual and difficult to explain as their occupiers had nothing to do with army discipline and were ordinary farmers seeking the security of stout walls and the ability to hail friends when help was needed. (Dodds 1999)

Comments

The other three bastles are Stobby Lea, East Ealingham and Coathill. These bastles were the farmhouses of tenanted small farms made out of an earlier medieval manor called 'le Lee'. The distribution of these reflects only the production of workable holdings of roughly equal size on the southern slope of the Rigg, the farmhouses being built mainly on the spring line. There seems to be no actual evidence this site was a bastle. As this seems to have been the centre of the medieval manor it may be this farmhouse was the original medieval manor house although the probability is this was, at least, converted into a bastle style building.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1387840.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N7997.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 353
Periodical Articles
- Christopherson, R., 2011, 'Northumberland bastles: origin and distribution' Medieval Settlement Research Vol. 26 p. 21-33 (listed in appendix)

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