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The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
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Cardurnock 'Tower'

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Cardronock; Castlesteads; Anthorn

In the civil parish of Bowness.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY172588
Latitude 54.91708° Longitude -3.29264°

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

There are no visible remains.

Description

Post Medieval Bastle/Pele Tower. A tower is shown on the 1590 map by Burghley at Cardurnock. Site not located. (PastScape ref. Perriam and Robinson)

Castlesteads Fieldname possibly site of a medieval watch tower built over Roman Milecastle No. 5. (Jackson 1990)

Milecastle 5. Site lies within a disused wartime airfield, now farmed and under pasture. No trace. The evidence for an Elizabethan watch tower, based on a single sherd of 16th - 17th century glazed pottery is minimal; the classification of Medieval Watchtower has been removed from the record. (PastScape record 9609 ref. Keith Blood and Colin Lofthouse/10-MAR-1994/RCHME: Cumberland Coast Project.)
Comments

It is difficult to really known what the symbols on the 1590 map actually meant. They mainly refer to sites that are now lost and which were never gentry status sites. This suggests these were not pele towers. It is more likely they were some form of bastle or stonehouse. The lack of survival of such houses in this area, as opposed to their fairly frequent survival in the higher Pennine lands, may reflect the good agricultural quality of this land producing wealth (once the area was politically stabilised and decriminalised) which allowed for the building of brand new farmhouses and farmbuildings in the C18/C19.
The site of this tower is not located but is not Milecastle 5. Given map reference for Cardurnock hamlet.
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Sources of information, references and further reading
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This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:21:53

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