Nesbit Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Nesbit in Glendale; Nesbette; Nesbitt; Nesebitt

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

OS Map Grid Reference: NT983334
Latitude 55.59551° Longitude -2.02736°

Nesbit Tower has been described as a probable Pele Tower.

There are no visible remains.

Description

A tower is mentioned at Nesbit in a document dated 1415. Its remains were recorded in about 1715 but its exact site is no longer known. (Keys to the Past)

A tower at Nesbit is mentioned in a list dated 1415 (Dodds 1935).
Remains are mentioned in a survey of c.1715 (Hodgson).
There is no local knowledge of a tower at Nesbit, and its site could not be established (F1 DK 01-FEB-67).
The tower was built shortly before 1415 by Thomas Grey, and was abandoned in 1603, although the remains were visible in 1715 (King 1983; Dodds 1999). (PastScape)

Comments

In 1415 the tower here belonged to Sir Thomas Grey. In 1541 the tower was "longe synce for lack of reparacons decayed & fallen & no fortress there now remayneth". Remains noted in 1715.
The site is lost but is likely to be under the modern farm buildings at Nesbit. The form of the tower is not known, it is called a turris in the 1415 list which is generally a term used for smaller tower houses. The lack of remains may suggests a masonry solar tower attached to a timber framed hall rather than a masonry tower house.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 3742.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N2129.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 82-3
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 82
  Rowland, T.H., 1987 (reprint1994), Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p. 22
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 351
  Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p. 245
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 137
  Dodds, Madeleine Hope (ed), 1935, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 14 p. 178
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 18 (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. 18 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1541, View of the Castles, Towers, Barmekyns and Fortresses of the Frontier of the East and Middle Marches Survey of the East and Middle Marches
  1415, Nomina Castrorum et Fortaliciorum infra Comitatum Northumbrie online transcription

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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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