Reasons for Designation
Bastles are small thick-walled farmhouses in which the living quarters are
situated above a ground floor byre. The vast majority are simple rectangular
buildings with the byre entrance typically placed in one gable end, an upper
door in the side wall, small stoutly-barred windows and few architectural
features or details. Some have stone barrel vaults to the basement but the
majority had a first floor of heavy timber beams carrying stone slabs. The
great majority of bastles are solitary rural buildings, although a few
nucleated settlements with more than one bastle are also known. Most bastles
were constructed between about 1575 and 1650, although earlier and later
examples are also known. They were occupied by middle-rank farmers. Bastles
are confined to the northern border counties of England, in Cumbria,
Northumberland and Durham. The need for such strongly defended farmsteads can
be related to the troubled social conditions of the later Middle Ages, which
in these border areas lasted until (indeed after) the union of the English and
Scottish Crowns in 1603. Less than 300 bastles are known to survive, of which
a large number have been significantly modified by their continuing use as
domestic or other buildings. All surviving bastles which retain significant
original remains will normally be identified as nationally important.
Details
The monument includes the remains of a bastle, a form of defended farmhouse,
situated among a group of farm buildings on the edge of a north facing
escarpment. The bastle, which is roofless, is rectangular in shape and
measures 9.15m by 6.7m externally with walls of large roughly squared blocks
up to 1.3m thick. The walls of the bastle stand to an average height of 1.5m.
The eastern wall and the eastern end of the north wall stand considerably
higher as they have been incorporated into the adjacent mid-18th century
farmhouse. There is an original doorway, now blocked, through the centre of
the west gable giving access into the ground floor basement. There are
opposing gaps through the north and south walls which are thought to be
additional doorways inserted into the bastle at a later date.
The bastle is Listed Grade II along with the adjacent farmhouse.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
32715
Legacy System:
RSM
End of official list entry
