Rutherford Tower

Has been described as a Questionable Pele Tower, and also as a Questionable Bastle

There are no visible remains

NameRutherford Tower
Alternative NamesRutherforde; Morthwate; Old Hall; Rotherforde; Ruthord
Historic CountryCumberland
Modern AuthorityCumbria
1974 AuthorityCumbria
Civil ParishNicholforest

Tower symbol is marked on the 1590 map of Cumbria at Rutherforde, and is marked as a house called 'Morthwate' on the 1607 plot. Probably a stonehouse or bastle. The English Place Name Society equated Rutherford with Old Hall, and the present farmhouse may have remains of the stonehouse. (PastScape)

(Area centred NY 45227889) A map in the British Museum, dated December 1590, has marked 'Rutherforde' with a tower symbol.

The approximate location falls in an area of rough pasture fields showing no trace of a structure or earthworks. Old Hall, at NY 451790, is externally C18/C19 farmhouse with walling of only average thickness. There is no knowledge of an earlier house here. (PastScape–ref. Field Investigators Comments–F1 JRL 23-AUG-79)

Gatehouse Comments

It is difficult to really known what the symbols on the 1590 map actually meant. They mainly refer to sites that are now lost and which were never gentry status sites. This suggests these were not pele towers. It is more likely they were some form of bastle or stonehouse. The lack of survival of such houses in this area, as opposed to their fairly frequent survival in the higher Pennine lands, may reflect the good agricultural quality of this land producing wealth (once the area was politically stabilised and decriminalised) which allowed for the building of brand new farmhouses and farmbuildings in the C18/C19.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law

Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceNY451790
Latitude55.1028289794922
Longitude-2.86163997650146
Eastings345110
Northings579050
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 99 (slight)
  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 240
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 94
  • Armstrong, A.M., 1950, The Place-Names of Cumberland, part 1 The City of Carlisle, and Eskdale, Cumberland, and Leath Wards (English Place-Name Society 20) p. 105
  • Jeffrey, A., 1864, History and Antiquities of Roxburghshire Vol. 4 p. 232 (facsimile of map) online copy

Journals

  • Collingwood, W.G., 1923, 'An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Cumberland' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 23 p. 247 online copy
  • Ellis, H., 1829, 'Copy of a manuscript tract addressed to Lord Burghley, illustrative of the Border topography of Scotland, AD 1590, with a platt or map of the Borders taken in the same year' Archaeologia Vol. 22 p. 161-71 online copy

Primary Sources

  • 1590, A Platt of the opposete Borders of Scotland to ye west marches of England (The Aglionby Platt) British Library online Gallery and [Old Cumbria Gazetteer > http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/maps/m048.htm] (see also [Gatehouse Essay 'The Aglionby Platt' > http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/APHome.html])

Other

  • Cole, J.R., 1982, A survey of the Debatable Land and Glen Tarras c. 1449-1620 (Thesis for Manchester University) p. 45