Brackenhill Tower is a
peel tower, in the parish of
Arthuret
Arthuret is a civil parish in the Carlisle district of Cumbria, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,434, increasing to 2,471 at the 2011 Census. The parish includes the town of Longtown and the village of Easton. It ...
, in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
, just north of the
River Lyne
The River Lyne is a river of Cumbria in England.
The river is formed near the hamlet of Stapleton, five miles west of Bewcastle, by the confluence of the Black Lyne (moving from the north) and the White Lyne (from northeast).
Both branches ha ...
. The site is about north of
Kirklinton and east of Longtown, or north of
Carlisle and east of
Gretna Green
Gretna Green is a parish in the southern council area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on the Scottish side of the border between Scotland and England, defined by the small river Sark, which flows into the nearby Solway Firth. It was histori ...
, and is a good defensive position, with ravines to the north and south. Extensions were added in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the original tower has had little alteration. It is the only remaining example of a Scottish
tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...
south of the border with England, and became a Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
in 1957.
Tower
The tower was built in 1584 by the
border reiver
Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their vi ...
Richie Graham (a stone on the tower gives the date as 1586). It replaced an earlier tower on the same site, which may have been built in the 13th century or possibly earlier. In June 1596, Graham was accused of hosting a coiner making counterfeit money in a room in his tower at Brackenhill.
Thomas Musgrave of Bewcastle was captured by Scottish
reivers
Border reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border ...
at the gates in July 1596 when the Grahams refused him a refuge.
[Joseph Bain, ''Calendar of Border Papers: 1560-1594'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 148.]
It was constructed from large irregular blocks of red Cumbrian sandstone to a simple rectangular plan, with sides measuring by , and walls high and thick. There are two upper storeys above a vaulted basement, with a corner spiral staircase and originally a first-floor exterior door. The tower has a double gabled slate roof, with corbelled and battlemented parapet and
stepped gables. There is little alteration to the exterior: for example, most of the narrow windows remain and were not enlarged as was typical when medieval buildings remained in use through the Georgian period.
Extensions
In 1717, Richard Graham constructed a brick cottage to the south east of the tower, of three bays and two storeys. Around this time, a new west doorway added to basement of the tower, and first floor external door was blocked. The attic was renovated around this time, and two end chimneys added. The timber roof trusses were replaced either at this renovation or later in the 19th century.
The building was sold to the Stephenson family near the end of the 18th century (they later became the Standish family). In 1860 they added a new dining room and kitchen in a two-storey extension constructed from dressed red sandstone, with a canted bay window. They also added a stone link between the tower and the brick cottage, adding a battlemented porch to the tower, decorated with the Standish family coat of arms. The Standish family used the building as a
hunting lodge, with the grounds landscaped to form a hunting estate.
Recent history
The Carlyle family held a lease of the building by the end of the Second World War. They bought the freehold when the Standish family sold in 1946. The surrounding land was used as a dairy farm.
The building remained in private hands into the 21st century, but fell into disrepair. It was one of three buildings included as candidates for restoration from the North West of England in the first BBC television programme
''Restoration'' in 2003, the other buildings being
Bank Hall
Bank Hall is a Jacobean mansion in Bretherton, Lancashire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is at the centre of a private estate, surrounded by parkland. The hall was built on the site of an older house in 1608 by the Banastres ...
in Bretherton and the eventual winner,
Victoria Baths in Manchester. It was included in the
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
Buildings at Risk Register, but repairs were completed in 2010 and it is used as holiday accommodation.
See also
*
Grade II* listed buildings in the City of Carlisle
*
Listed buildings in Arthuret
References
*
*
Buildings at Risk registerRestoration - Cumbria, 1234 BBC, July 2003
Website
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Houses completed in 1584
Towers completed in 1584
Peel towers in Cumbria
Grade II* listed buildings in Cumbria