Editing Peel tower

{{Short description|Small medieval fortified keep or tower house}}
{{For|the monument to Robert Peel in Bury, Greater Manchester|Peel Monument, Ramsbottom}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2014}}
[[File:Arnside Tower, front, Feb 2016.jpg|thumb|right|[[Arnside Tower]], a late-medieval pele tower in [[Cumbria]]]]
[[File:SmailholmLochan.jpg|thumb|right|[[Smailholm Tower]] near [[Kelso, Scottish Borders|Kelso]] in Scotland]]
[[File:Chathill MMB 03 Preston Tower.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Preston Tower, Northumberland]]]]

'''Peel towers''' (also spelt '''pele''')<ref>{{cite book|first1=Denis|last1=Perriam|first2=John|last2=Robinson|title=The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria|publisher=CWAAS|date=1998}}</ref> are small fortified [[keep]]s or [[tower house]]s, built along the [[England|English]] and [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[Border country|borders]] in the [[Scottish Marches]] and [[North of England]], mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600.<ref>Historic England</ref> They were free-standing with defence being a prime consideration in their design,<ref>{{citation|title=Clifton Hall, Cumbria: Excavations 1977-79|first=Graham|last=Fairclough|journal=TCWAAS|date=1980|volume=80|pages=45–68|url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-1/dissemination/pdf/Article_Level_Pdf/tcwaas/002/1980/vol80/tcwaas_002_1980_vol80_0007.pdf|access-date=24 June 2019}}</ref> although "confirmation of status and prestige" also played a role.<ref name="King2012">{{cite journal|last1=King|first1=Andy|title=Fortresses and fashion statements: gentry castles in fourteenth-century Northumberland|journal=Journal of Medieval History|volume=33|issue=4|year=2012|pages=372–397|issn=0304-4181|doi=10.1016/j.jmedhist.2007.09.003|s2cid=159767614}}</ref> Additionally, they functioned as [[watch tower|watch-tower]]s, where garrisoned personnel could light [[beacon|signal fire]]s to warn of approaching danger.

The [[MIDAS Heritage|FISH Vocabulary]] ''Monument Types Thesaurus''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage-standards.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Mon_class.pdf|title=FISH Terminologies: Monument Types Thesaurus|access-date=31 May 2020}}</ref> lists "pele" alongside "[[bastle house|bastle]]", "fortified manor house" and "tower house" under the broader term "fortified house". [[Pevsner Architectural Guides|Pevsner]] defines a peel as simply a stone tower.<ref>{{cite book|first=Nikolaus|last=Pevsner|author-link=Nikolaus Pevsner|date=1967|title=Cumberland and Westmorland|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]}}</ref> Outside of this, "peel" or "pele" can also be used in related contexts, for example a "pele" or "[[barmkin]]" (in Ireland a [[bawn]]) was an enclosure where livestock were herded in times of danger.<ref>Aslet & Powers, 20; Historic England</ref>  The [[rustling]] of livestock was an inevitable part of Border raids, and often their main purpose.<ref>Stewart (2017) p.16</ref> In this usage, the tower usually stood at a corner of the pele.  Most pele enclosure walls have not survived, and some towers perhaps never had them.  Some, known as a "vicar's pele", housed the local vicar but could also serve as a refuge for the whole community.<ref>Aslet & Powers, 20</ref>

== History ==
Peels were built in [[Scotland]], [[Northumberland]], [[Cumberland, England|Cumberland]], [[Westmorland]], [[County Durham]], the [[North Riding of Yorkshire]], and as far south as [[Lancashire]], in response to the threat of attack from the English, Scots and the [[Border Reivers]] of both nationalities.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fraser|first1=G. M.|title=The Steel Bonnets: the Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers|date=1971|publisher=Pan|location=London}}</ref>

In Scotland, a line of these towers was built in the 1430s across the [[River Tweed|Tweed]] valley from [[Berwick-upon-Tweed|Berwick]] to its source, as a response to the dangers of invasion from the [[Scottish Marches|Marches]]. In the upper Tweed valley, going downstream from its source, they were as follows: Fruid, [[Hawkshaw, Scottish Borders|Hawkshaw]], [[Oliver Castle|Oliver]], [[Polmood]], [[Kingledoors]], [[Mossfennan]], [[Wrae Tower]], Quarter, [[Stanhope, Peeblesshire|Stanhope]], [[Drumelzier]], Tinnies, [[Dreva on Tweed|Dreva]], [[Stobo Castle|Stobo]], Dawyck, Easter Happrew, [[Lyne, Scottish Borders|Lyne]], Barnes, Caverhill, [[Neidpath Castle|Neidpath]], [[Peebles]], [[Horsburgh Castle|Horsburgh]], [[Nether Horsburgh Castle]], [[Cardrona, Scottish Borders|Cardrona]], [[The Kirna|Kirna(Kirnie)]], Elibank.

By an Act of the [[Parliament of England]] in 1455, each of these towers was required to have an iron basket on its summit and a [[smoke signal|smoke]] or fire signal, for day or night use, ready at hand.<ref>Stewart (2017),p.19</ref> Apart from their primary purpose as a warning system, these towers were also the homes of the [[laird]]s and [[landlord]]s of the area, who dwelt in them with their families and retainers, while their followers lived in simple huts outside the walls. The towers also provided a refuge so that, when cross-border raiding parties arrived, the whole population of a village could take to the tower and wait for the marauders to depart.

== Surviving towers ==
[[File:Embleton Vicarage 1.png|thumb|right|[[Embleton Tower]] (formerly Embleton Vicarage) in Northumberland; the square medieval pele tower is at right]]
Pele towers can be associated with a [[Church (building)|church]]: for example [[Embleton Tower]] in [[Embleton, Northumberland]], and another at [[Church of St Michael, Alnham]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/church/st-michael-all-angels-alnham|website=[[National Churches Trust]]|title=St Michael & All Angels: In the tiny village of Alnham and set on the edge of the Northumbrian National Park, close to the source of the River Aln and somewhat off the beaten track|accessdate=2 January 2024}}</ref> are examples of a so-called '[[vicar]]'s peles' and the one at [[Hulne Priory]] near [[Alnwick]] is in the grounds of the [[priory]]. [[Corbridge Vicar's Pele]] in Northumberland has been converted to a small pub. [[St Michael's Church, Burgh by Sands]] has a heavily fortified tower at the west end and a former vicar's pele at the east end. St Cuthbert's, [[Great Salkeld]], is another example of a [[fortified church]]. Both these Cumbrian churches have [[yett]]s or strong internal iron gates to defend their towers against Scottish raiders.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.architecture.com/image-library/RIBApix/image-information/poster/st-cuthbert-great-salkeld-cumbria-the-pele-tower/posterid/RIBA6937.html|title=St Cuthbert, Great Salkeld, Cumbria: the pele tower|website=[[RIBA]]|access-date=9 September 2019}}</ref>

Some peles were converted to castles, such as [[Penrith Castle]].<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1138256}}</ref> Some towers are now derelict while others have been converted for use in peacetime. [[Embleton Tower|Embleton pele tower]] was part of the former vicarage, now a private home, and that on the [[Farne Islands|Inner Farne]] is a home to bird wardens. The most obvious conversion needs include access, which would have originally been made intentionally difficult, and the provision of more and larger windows. A pele tower in [[Hellifield]], North Yorkshire featured in an episode of ''[[Grand Designs]]'' showing the conversion from a derelict state to a home and a bed-and-breakfast business.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/3356426/How-I-peeled-back-the-years.html|first=Paul|last=Wilkinson|title=How I peeled back the years|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=15 Feb 2007}}</ref> [[Darnick]] Tower stands just outside [[Melrose, Scottish Borders|Melrose]] and is still habitable. It was built in 1425 by the Heiton family from Normandy, and remained the property of the same family until 2016.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/haunted-15th-century-scottish-castle-9087812|first=Kirstie|last=McCrum|title='Haunted' 15th Century Scottish castle with 'ghosts in the grounds' could be yours for £695,000|newspaper=[[Daily Mirror]]|date=20 Oct 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822182750/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/haunted-15th-century-scottish-castle-9087812|archive-date=22 August 2017}}</ref> The Pele Tower in [[Whittingham, Northumberland]] was converted to alms houses in 1864, but is now a single dwelling, rentable as holiday accommodation.  The lower barrel vaulted chamber and first floor date from c. 1280, the top floor from the Victorian reconstruction.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/3724.html|title=Whittingham Tower (The Gatehouse Record)|accessdate=2 January 2024|website=Gatehouse Gazetteer}}</ref>

[[Canons Ashby House]] incorporates one of only a few pele towers constructed in the [[Midlands]]; it owes its existence to the settlement of Cumbrian sheep farmer, John Dryden, in the county of Northamptonshire.

== See also ==
* [[Architecture in early modern Scotland#Vernacular architecture]] (section)
* [[Bastle house]]
* [[:Category:Fortified church buildings in England]]
* [[Manor house]]
* [[Scottish Vernacular]]
* [[Tower houses in Britain and Ireland]]
* [[Vernacular architecture]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
*[[Clive Aslet|Aslet, Clive]] and [[Alan Powers|Powers, Alan]], ''The National Trust book of the English House'' Penguin/Viking, 1985, {{ISBN|0670801755}}
*"Historic England": {{NHLE|num=1010690|desc=Strickland's Pele Tower and Penrith Castle|access-date=30 July 2018}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YH0uDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|access-date=7 July 2019|title=The Armstrongs|first=Derek James|last=Stewart|publisher=American Academic Press|date=2017|isbn=9781631818790}}

== External links ==
* {{cite web|url=http://www.visitcumbria.com/pele.htm|title=The Pele Towers of Cumbria and the Lake District|website=Visit Cumbria|access-date=26 June 2019}}

{{Scottish architecture}}
{{Fortifications}}

[[Category:Peel towers| Peel]]
[[Category:Fortified houses]]
[[Category:History of Cumbria]]
[[Category:History of Northumberland]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in the Scottish Borders]]
[[Category:Towers in England| ]]
[[Category:Towers in Scotland| ]]
[[Category:Border Reivers]]
[[Category:Vernacular architecture]]