![Chathill MMB 03 Preston Tower](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Chathill_MMB_03_Preston_Tower.jpg)
Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified
keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
s or
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 ...
s, built along the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
borders
A border is a geographical boundary.
Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film
* ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...
in the
Scottish Marches
Scottish Marches was the term used for the Anglo-Scottish border during the late medieval and early modern eras, characterised by violence and cross-border raids. The Scottish Marches era came to an end during the first decade of the 17th century ...
and
North of England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing with defence being a prime consideration of their design with "confirmation of status and prestige" also playing a role.
They also functioned as
watch tower
A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...
s where
signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger.
The
FISH Vocabulary ''Monument Types Thesaurus'' lists "pele" alongside "
bastle
Bastel, bastle, or bastille houses are a type of construction found along the Anglo-Scottish border, in the areas formerly plagued by border reivers. They are fortified farmhouses, characterised by security measures against raids. Their name ...
", "fortified manor house" and "tower house" under the broader term "fortified house".
Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist
* Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo
* David Pevsner, American actor, singer, dan ...
defines a peel as simply a stone tower. Outside of this, "peel" or "pele" can also be used in related contexts, for example a "pele" or "
barmkin
Barmkin, also spelled barmekin or barnekin, is a Scots word which refers to a form of medieval and later defensive enclosure, typically found around smaller castles, tower houses, pele towers, and bastle houses in Scotland and the north of Engla ...
" (in Ireland a
bawn
A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional spe ...
) was an enclosure where livestock were herded in times of danger. The
rustling
Cattle raiding is the act of stealing cattle. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the perpetrator as a duffer.Baker, Sidney John (1945) ''The Australian language : an examination of the English language and English s ...
of livestock was an inevitable part of Border raids, and often their main purpose. In this usage, the tower usually stood at a corner of the pele. Most pele enclosure walls have not survived, and some towers perhaps never had them. Some, known as a "vicar's pele", housed the local vicar but could also serve as a refuge for the whole community.
History
Peels were built in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
,
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land on ...
,
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
,
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
and
North Riding of Yorkshire
The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres).
From the Restoration it was used as ...
, and as far south as
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, in response to the threat of attack from the English, Scots and the
Border 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 ...
of both nationalities.
In Scotland, a line of these towers was built in the 1430s across the
Tweed
Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...
valley from
Berwick to its source, as a response to the dangers of invasion from the
Marches
In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a national "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diff ...
. In the upper Tweed valley, going downstream from its source, they were as follows: Fruid,
Hawkshaw,
Oliver,
Polmood
Polmood is a small settlement in southern Scotland near Tweedsmuir in the Scottish Borders, in the valley of the River Tweed.
Polmood was for many centuries the centre of the Hunter family in the lowlands and the earliest record was a charter dat ...
,
Kingledoors
Kingledoors is a group of settlements in a valley in southern Scotland near Tweedsmuir in the Scottish Borders, in the valley of the River Tweed. It is part of the parish of Drumelzier and is bounded on the north by Mossfennan, on the east by Pol ...
,
Mossfennan
Mossfennan is a small settlement in southern Scotland near Drumelzier in the Scottish Borders, in the valley of the River Tweed.
Mossfennan is a wooded area part of the parish of Glenholm. There was once a peel tower at Mossfennan. Also near ...
,
Wrae Tower
Wrae Tower is a ruined 16th-century stone tower house, located in the upper Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and similarly south of the village of Broughton. The ruin is at grid reference , 3 km south-west of Drumelz ...
, Quarter,
Stanhope,
Drumelzier
Drumelzier (), is a village and civil parish on the B712 in the Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders.
The area of the village is extensive and includes the settlements of Wrae, Stanhope, Mossfennan and Kingledoors. To the north is Broughton an ...
, Tinnies,
Dreva,
Stobo, Dawyck, Easter Happrew,
Lyne, Barnes, Caverhill,
Neidpath,
Peebles
Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...
,
Horsburgh,
Nether Horsburgh Castle,
Cardrona,
Kirna(Kirnie), Elibank.
By an Act of the
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised t ...
in 1455, each of these towers was required to have an iron basket on its summit and a
smoke
Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product ...
or fire signal, for day or night use, ready at hand. Apart from their primary purpose as a warning system, these towers were also the homes of the
laird
Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...
s and
landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the ...
s of the area, who dwelt in them with their families and retainers, while their followers lived in simple huts outside the walls. The towers also provided a refuge so that, when cross-border raiding parties arrived, the whole population of a village could take to the tower and wait for the marauders to depart.
Surviving towers
Pele towers can be associated with a
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
: for example
Embleton Tower in
Embleton, Northumberland
Embleton is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English county of Northumberland. Besides the village of Embleton itself, the civil parish includes the settlement of Christon Bank, situated about a mile to the w ...
, is an example of a so-called '
vicar
A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
's pele' and the one at
Hulne Priory
Hulne Priory, Hulne Friary or Hulne Abbey was a friary founded in 1240 by the Carmelites or 'Whitefriars'. It is said that the Northumberland site, quite close to Alnwick, was chosen for some slight resemblance to Mount Carmel where the order ori ...
near
Alnwick
Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116.
The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bor ...
is in the grounds of the
priory
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...
.
St Michael's Church, Burgh by Sands
St Michael's Church is in the village of Burgh by Sands, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Carlisle, the archdeaconry of Carlisle, and the diocese of Carlisle. Its benefice is united with those of St& ...
has a heavily fortified tower at the west end and a former vicar's pele at the east end. St Cuthbert's,
Great Salkeld
Great Salkeld is a small village and civil parish in the Eden District of Cumbria, England, a few miles to the north east of Penrith and bordering the River Eden. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 445, decreasing to 412 at th ...
, is another example of a
fortified church
A fortified church is a church that is built to serve a defensive role in times of war. Such churches were specially designed to incorporate military features, such as thick walls, battlements, and embrasures. Others, such as the Ávila Cathedra ...
. Both these Cumbrian churches have
yett
A yett (from the Old English and Scots language word for "gate") is a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and tower houses. Unlike a portcullis, which is raised and lowered vertically using mecha ...
s or strong internal iron gates to defend their towers against Scottish raiders.
Some peles were converted to castles, such as
Penrith Castle
Penrith Castle is a now-ruined medieval castle located in Penrith, in the north-west of England, a few miles to the east of the Lake District National Park.
Early history
The site of the castle, in the west of the town is likely to have been a ...
. Some towers are now derelict while others have been converted for use in peacetime.
Embleton pele tower was part of the former vicarage, now a private home, and that on the
Inner Farne
The Farne Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Northumberland, England. The group has between 15 and 20 islands depending on the level of the tide. is a home to bird wardens. The most obvious conversion needs include access, which would have originally been made intentionally difficult, and the provision of more and larger windows. A pele tower in
Hellifield
Hellifield is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England (). Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the village was once an important railway junction on the Settle-Carlisle Railway between th ...
, North Yorkshire featured in an episode of ''
Grand Designs
''Grand Designs'' is a British television series produced by Boundless and broadcast on Channel 4 which features unusual and often elaborate architectural homebuilding projects.
The programme has been presented by Kevin McCloud since it first ...
'' showing the conversion from a derelict state to a home and a bed-and-breakfast business.
Darnick Tower stands just outside Melrose and is still habitable. It was built in 1425 by the Heiton family from Normandy, and is considered one of the finest examples of a Borders pele tower. It had remained the property of the same family until 2016.
Canons Ashby House
Canons Ashby House is a Grade I listed Elizabethan manor house located in the village of Canons Ashby, about south of the town of Daventry in the county of Northamptonshire, England. It has been owned by the National Trust for Places of Historic ...
incorporates one of only a few pele towers constructed in the Midlands; it owes its existence to the settlement of Cumbrian sheep farmer, John Dryden, in the county of Northamptonshire.
Corbridge Vicar's Pele
Corbridge Vicar's Pele is a pele tower in the village of Corbridge, Northumberland, England.
It was a three-storey defensive pele tower, with one room to each storey, built in the churchyard in 1318, and used as the vicarage for the adjacent chu ...
in Northumberland has been converted to a small pub.
See also
*
Tower houses in Britain and Ireland
Tower houses ( ga, caisleán) appeared on the Islands of Ireland and Great Britain starting from the High Middle Ages. They were constructed in the wilder parts of Great Britain and Ireland, particularly in Scotland, and throughout Ireland, until ...
*
Architecture in early modern Scotland#Vernacular architecture (section)
*
Bastle house
Bastel, bastle, or bastille houses are a type of construction found along the Anglo-Scottish border, in the areas formerly plagued by border reivers. They are fortified farmhouses, characterised by security measures against raids. Their name ...
*
:Fortified church buildings in England
*
Manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
*
Scottish Vernacular
Scottish Vernacular architecture is a form of vernacular architecture that uses local materials.
Overview
In Scotland, as elsewhere, vernacular architecture employs readily available local materials and methods handed down from generation to gene ...
*
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. This category encompasses a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, bo ...
Notes
References
*
Aslet, Clive and
Powers, Alan, ''The National Trust book of the English House'' Penguin/Viking, 1985,
*"Historic England":
*
External links
*
{{Fortifications
Peel
Fortified houses
History of Cumbria
History of Northumberland
Buildings and structures in the Scottish Borders
Border Reivers
Vernacular architecture