Paull Holme Tower is an unusual late-medieval fortified tower in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

The tower is part of a rectangular, moated enclosure near the village of

Paull Paull (archaic ''Paul'', ''Pall'', ''Pawle'', ''Pawel'', ''Paulle'', ''Paghel'', ''Paghill'', ''Paghil'', ''Pagula'') is a village and civil parish in Holderness, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, lying on the north bank of the Humber ...

, dating from the beginning of the 15th century. The tower is three storeys high, each floor having a single chamber, the whole protected by a

portcullis A portcullis (from Old French ''porte coleice'', "sliding gate") is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down gr ...

entrance. There has been debate as to the purpose of the site - in part the fortification resembles the more northern

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 ...

s, although alternatively the tower may have been built to give luxury accommodation overlooking the

River Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the ...

which runs nearby, similar to some properties built near

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

. It is a unique building for the period and region. The tower was restored in 1871, from which the current windows, doorways and plasterwork dates, but has been roofless since the early 20th century and as of 2010 is ruined and in what

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 ...

considers to be a very bad condition. It is a scheduled monument and a Grade I

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 December 2016 a grant of £160,000 was secured from

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

to enable restoration work to begin with an aim of completing the work by September 2017. A shield of arms is displayed on the outer wall.

References

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External links

*Website: https://paullholmetower.org.uk *Facebook: https://facebook.com/paullholmetower *Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user53765211 {{Castles in the East Riding of Yorkshire Grade I listed buildings in the East Riding of Yorkshire

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links