Bellingham; The Riding Farmhouse

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

The oldest part of the farmhouse is a bastle house. It measures 11m by 6.4m and has been extended in the late C18 and early C19. The bastle is built of massive stones and has walls up to 1.3m thick. The doorway in the south side of the building is thought to be an original feature of the bastle but no other features are visible.

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

This site is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 239421)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY82608413

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; 17133

County Sites and Monuments Record number; N7981

Web site links
- http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N7981
Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Keepdate Publishing) p286
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern) p120 [slight]
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p356
  Ramm, H.G., McDowall, R.W. and Mercer, E., 1970, Shielings and Bastles (London) p84 no.30
Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
- Ryder, P.F., 1990, Bastles and Towers in the Northumberland National Park p9

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations.

It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with this site.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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This record last updated on Friday, April 6, 2007

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