Askham Village Defences

Has been described as a Certain Urban Defence

There are major building remains

NameAskham Village Defences
Alternative NamesAscum; Ascom
Historic CountryWestmorland
Modern AuthorityCumbria
1974 AuthorityCumbria
Civil ParishAskham

Defensible Village. Typical of communal defence adopted in a number of villages in the Eden Valley. (Perriam and Robinson)

Gatehouse Comments

The village consists of two storey C17 houses on both sides of a long linear green (there is some slight infilling at the centre of the green) and it is, presumably, the back walls of these village houses that were seen as a defense. Askham Hall and the parish church of St Peter (St Kentigern) both lie outside the line or circuit of these defences. It may well be the medieval precursor buildings were built on a similar footprint to the current C17 buildings but it is also likely many of these buildings were of timber so the defensibility of the medieval village may be open to some question. However, whatever the nature of the medieval housing, it would have provided a place where livestock could be corralled with considerable security from the relatively small bands of reivers.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceNY510235
Latitude54.6057891845703
Longitude-2.75545001029968
Eastings351000
Northings523500
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink
Photograph by Matthew Emmott. All rights reservedView full Sized Image

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Books

  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29)
  • RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 21-8 no. 7-26 plan [online transcription > http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=120729]