Housty Bastles

In the civil parish of Allendale.
In the historic county of Northumberland (Modern Authority of Northumberland, 1974 county of Northumberland).

Housty is a farm on the east side of the East Allen valley. The farmhouse is dated 1736, but to the north of it is an open area, or green, between ranges of earlier houses. On the north side of the green is an C18 or C19 byre that is built onto the east end of a bastle, which in turn is built on the east gable of an earlier bastle. All that remains of the earliest bastle is the lower part of the east end, the wall being 1.21m thick. An impressive byre doorway stands in the centre of the wall and has a monolithic lintel. The second bastle is also a ruin and has walls 0.85m thick built of massive stones. Other building foundations to the south may also contain remains of bastles.

This site has been described as a;
Bastle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY83655717

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 1387997

County Sites and Monuments Record number; N7301

• Web site links
  • http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N7301
• Books
  • Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Keepdate Publishing) p428
    Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern) p118 [slight]
• Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Ryder, P.F., 1995. Towers and Bastles in Northumberland, Part 4 Tynedale District Vol1 p9-10