Hope Farmhouse, Brinkburn (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NU09700158
Latitude 55.30822° Longitude -1.84872°

Hope Farmhouse, Brinkburn has been described as a probable Bastle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

Description

Although Hope farmhouse is a fairly modern building, the north-west wall stands on older foundations. These have previously been described as a bastle. The lower courses of the north-west wall are built of rough stones of various sizes but only measure 0.6m thick. The walls of a bastle are usually over 1m thick and its identification as a bastle must remain uncertain. (Keys to the Past)

A fortified farmhouse or bastle existed at Brinkburn Hope (Dixon 1903).
Hope farmhouse at NU 09700158 is a modern building except for the lower courses of stonework on the NW wall. Up to a height of about 4.0m the stonework is roughly-fashioned, raised upon foundations of large shaped boulders. The wall is 5.9m wide and about 0.6m thick and has a retaining arch of long flat stones at the centre, over a blocked-up entrance. There are no other traces of an earlier structure within or around the farmhouse (F1 ASP 25-JAN-57). (PastScape)

Comments

Thick walls are not, of themselves, defensive. Their importance for bastles is the structural need to support heavy, fire resistant, floors and roofs. A well built and well mortared wall might not need to be as thick as a rougher constructed wall to have the same structural strength. This is a farm in an area where the standard form of C17 farmhouse was the pele-house to the extent where the emphasis probably has to be on producing evidence this was not a bastle.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 4567.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N2936.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 198-9
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 329 (as fragment of tower), 361(as bastle)
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 214
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 123
  Dixon, D.D., 1903, Upper Coquetdale Northumberland: Its History, Traditions, Folk-lore and Scenery (Newcastle-upon Tyne: Robert Redpath) p. 160 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Christopherson, R., 2011, 'Northumberland bastles: origin and distribution' Medieval Settlement Research Vol. 26 p. 21-33 (listed in appendix)
  Dixon, P.W., 1972, 'Shielings and bastles: a reconsideration of some problems' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser4) Vol. 50 p. 249-58
  Hadcock, R.N., 1939, 'A map of mediaeval Northumberland and Durham' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser4) Vol. 16 p. 148-218 esp 163

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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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