Embleton Tower

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; The Old Vicarage; Turris de Emyldon; Emildon

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

The Old Vicarage at Embleton incorporates a medieval tower. The building was probably constructed in the early C14 as a house and was converted into a tower in the 1390s. The tower is unusual in two ways; firstly, it has two vaulted rooms in the basement where other examples usually have only one and, secondly, it is very long. The building stands three storeys high and is built in a mixture of rubble stonework and squared stone. The south end of the tower was refaced in C19 by John Dobson when major extensions were added to it. Merton College, who held the patronage of Embleton, agreed in 1332 to provide quarters where the vicar might "live suitably and entertain visitors decently"; reconstruction seems to have taken place after the parish was laid waste by the Scots in 1385. A licence to crenellate was allegedly given to the owner in 1385 but no offical record exists for this.

This site has been described as a;
Pele Tower.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Major remains.

A supposed Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1385.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NU23052244

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; 8258

County Sites and Monuments Record number; N5833

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/75/embletontower.htm
    http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N5833
    http://www.sine.newcastle.ac.uk/view_structure_information.asp?struct_id=104
• Books
  • Harrison, Peter, 2004, Castles of God (Woodbridge; Boydell Press) p67
    Brooke, C.J., 2000, Safe Sanctuaries (Edinburgh; John Donald) p82-3
    Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Keepdate Publishing) p128-9
    Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern) p50
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p184
    Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlise) p139
    Pevsner, N., 1992 (revised by Grundy, John et al), The Buildings of England: Northumberland (London, Penguin) p271
    Rowland, T.H., 1987 [reprint1994], Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p11, 26
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 Vol2 p333
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p227-8
    Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p151-2
    Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p99
    Hugill, R.,1939, Borderland Castles and Peles [1970 Reprint by Frank Graham] p100-101
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Bateson, Edward (ed), 1895, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol2 p80-2
    Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p19
    Hodgson, J.C., 1820, History of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) pt3 Vol1 p30
• Journal Articles
  • Honeyman, H.L., 1928, 'Embleton Vicarage' Archaeologia Aeliana [ser4] Vol5 p87-101
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • 1415 list of Northumberland Castles [Click here]
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p343
• Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Ryder, P.F., 1995. Towers and Bastles in Northumberland Part 1 Alnwick District p25-7