Ruined Castles - North
Peles and Bastle Houses
These were built in response to troubled times in the
Middle Ages with constant warfare and raiding between the
Border families
The population lived in fortified stone houses known as peles or bastles. It wasn’t until the Union of the Crowns in 1603 when James VI of Scotland became James I of England that more settled times arrived. The remains of these peles and bastles can be seen along both sides of the border.
The Peles were stone built tower houses built between the C13th to the C17th. They had very thick stone walls and were virtually impregnable against the reivers and were lived in by both rich and poor. They had two doors. The outer or ‘ yett’ was made of iron. The inner door was wood. Windows were small. The ground floor was used for storage, or to keep animals safe if a raid was likely. The upper floors were the living accommodation and reached by a narrow internal spiral staircase.
There are good examples at Smailholme and Greenknowe in the Borders.
Vicar’s Peles were common in Northumberland and there are good examples in the churchyard at Corbridge, Elsdon and Embleton.
Others like Barty’s Pele on the Tarset Bastle Trail in Kielder forest are now just a ruin.
Bastles were larger and fortified farmhouses and most were built in the C16th or C17th. They belonging to the more wealthy. Again the ground floor was used for storage and livestock and had narrow slit like windows. The first floor living quarters being reached by an internal staircase or wooden ladder. When more settled time arrived, an external stone staircase was built to reach the first floor living quarters.
Good examples of bastles can be seen in the tiny hamlet of Gatehouse in Tarsett, North Tynedale. Black Middens Bastle, also in Tarsett, is now a ruin and in the care of English Heritage.
Woodhouse Bastle near Holystone in Northumberland has been restored by English Heritage .