Little Harle Tower is a

Grade II* listed 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 ...

privately owned country house with 15th-century origins, located at Little Harle,

Kirkwhelpington Kirkwhelpington is a village and civil parish in the English county of Northumberland about northeast of Hexham. It is on the River Wansbeck alongside the A696 trunk road between Otterburn and Ponteland. History Kirkwhelpington has mediev ...

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 ...

. Keys to the Past

History

The property, believed to have been built in the late 15th century as a

pele tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing ...

, was first recorded in a survey of 1541. Until 1552 it was the property of the Fenwick family, from whom it passed to the Aynsleys. During the early years of the 19th century Harle Tower was inhabited by

Lord Charles Murray-Aynsley Lord Charles Murray-Aynsley (21 October 1771 – 5 May 1808) was an English dean. Life Murray-Aynsley was the youngest of nine children of John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl, and Charlotte Murray, Duchess of Atholl, and baptized as Charles Murray. O ...

and his wife Alicia, née Mitford. In around 1848 it was purchased by Thomas Anderson (''c.''1808–72) previously of Anderson Place (Greyfriars),

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

(who was Deputy Lieutenant, JP, and

High Sheriff of Northumberland This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Northumberland. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries ...

in 1843–4).''A Topographical Dictionary Of England (1848) from British History Online''
/ref> His descendants remain in residence (with the East Wing of the house occupied by the Turnbull family in 2005 and the Rogers family in 2010, but as of 2013, it is home of the Andersons).

Architecture

The house incorporates a three-storey tower of medieval origins. The central two-storey block of five bays dates from the early 18th century. Substantial additions were made in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

in about 1862, but much of the 19th-century work has not survived a remodelling of the property in 1980. The 19th-century stable block is also a separately listed Grade II building.

References

{{Authority Control Houses completed in the 15th century Towers completed in the 15th century Country houses in Northumberland Grade II* listed buildings in Northumberland Peel towers in Northumberland