Mellom Cottage, Chesterwood

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;

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

Mellom Cottage was built on the site of a bastle, which is shown in a late C19 photograph in a state of ruin. It seems to have been built at the same time as West Farm Cottage. The bastle had a byre doorway in its south wall and an upper doorway, both with square heads and chamfered surrounds. One of a number of bastles in small group forming hamlet (5 according to RCHME report, Dodds can only safely count 3, a local newspaper claimed 13 originally, SMR gives details of 7 bastles.). The Chesterwood Group of Bastles could be considered to amount to a defended village.

This site has been described as a;
Bastle
Urban Defence.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Nothing visible remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY82986517

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; 16327

County Sites and Monuments Record number; N7594

• Web site links
  • http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N7594
• Books
  • Ryder, Peter, 2004, 'Towers and bastles in Northumberland National Park' in Frodsham, P., Archaeology in Northumberland National Park (CBA Research report 136) p262-271
• Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)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 Vol2 p84