ESLINGTON TOWER HOUSE

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Possible site of a tower house, crenellated in 1335. The tower was stormed by the Scots in 1587 in revenge for the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, 18 of the defenders being killed, and was last recorded in 1594. It is believed to have stood a short distance north of Eslington Hall.

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In 1334/5 Robert of Eslington had licence to crenellate his house at Eslington. The tower was held by Thomas of Hazelrigg in 1415, and was reported to be suitable for a garrison of 20 men c.1514. In 1587, the tower was stormed by the Scots under Buccleuch
after the executon of Mary Queen of Scots. Nothing now remains of the old tower, last mentioned in 1594.

The mansion house of Eslington Park dates mainly from the early Georgian period (post 1714) of which it is a fine example. The Md home of the Eslingtons and their successors, the Hazelriggs, and Collingwoods, has entirely disappeared, but it is believed to have stood a short distance north of the present house on a slightly
higher level in what is now the kitchen garden (Area NU 042122), where wrought stone work is still occassionally dug up. The north wall of this garden and the ha-ha east of it contain a good deal of old ashlar re-used, some of it appearing Md. There is also, built into the potting shed in the kitchen garden, a simple Tudor doorway, but this was brought from Collingwood House upon its demolition. (1)

Described in the survey of 1514 as a tower with a barmkin. (2)

Lord Ravensworth of Eslington Hall had no definite information regarding the tower, but believed that it stood somewhere north of the present house. His gardener, with 56 years service, has
encountered no foundations in the kitchen garden (see authority 3) but has found stones in the small fir plantation to the immediate north of the house. In view of the lack of other evidence the tower has been sited to the area occupied by the kitchen garden, and the fir plantation. The stonework in the walls referred to by authority 4 appears old and well weathered but there is no evidence to show its origin or date. (3)

Listed by Cathcart King and Dodds. (4,5)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Northumberland County History

NCH 14 1935 515-518 (Ed M Hope Dodds) 14 Page(s)515-518

( 2) Archaeologia Aeliana : or miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity

Arch Ael 2nd Series 14 1891 17 43 (C J Bates) 14 Page(s)17 43

( 3) Field Investigators Comments

F1 DAD 04-APR-57

(4) David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the Islands. Volume II : Norfolk-Yorkshire and the islands

Page(s)348

(5) Dodds, JF 1999 Bastions and Belligerents: Medieval Strongholds in Northumberland

Page(s)159-60

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