Cockle Park Tower

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Cockley; Bubbleymire; Cocklepark

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

Tower stands three storeys high with corner turrets and a parapet. It has sandstone walls 1.5m thick. The inside of the tower is divided by a later brick wall and the southern part was completely altered in about 1800. Here, there are no earlier features left. At ground floor level, on the north side of the brick wall, is part of the medieval barrel vault and an original doorway. The northern part of the first floor can only be reached by a staircase on the outside of the building and little is known about it. Many of the features in the second floor were removed and taken to Bothal Castle in C19. The tower was probably built in about 1517 for Sir William Ogle. But when troops stayed here in 1648 during the Civil War it had lost much of its status and was then just a farmhouse. In 1715 it is recorded as "an old pile bellonging to ye Dutches of Newcastle". It passed to the Bothal Estates (later the Dukes of Portland), and became an experimental farm for the Dukes in C19.

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

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NZ20159115

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; 25506

County Sites and Monuments Record number; N11905

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/81/cockleparktower.htm
    http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N11905
• Books
  • Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Keepdate Publishing)
    Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern) p37
    Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol1 (Cambridge) p71-2
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p180
    Pevsner, N. et al, 1992. The Buildings of England: Northumberland (London) p235
    Rowland, T.H., 1987 [reprint1994], Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p63
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p330
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p211
    Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p113
    Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p86
    Hugill, R.,1939, Borderland Castles and Peles [1970 Reprint by Frank Graham] p75-6
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p375
    Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p21-2, 390-2
    Hodgson, J.C., 1832, History of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) pt2 Vol2 p139-41
    Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol4 p80-1
• Journal Articles
  • Hadcock, R.N., 1939, 'Map of Mediaeval Northum and Durham' Archaeologia Aeliana [ser4] Vol16 p162
    Hodgson, J.C., 1916, 'List of Ruined Towers, Chapels, etc., in Northumberland; compiled about 1715 by John Warburton, Somerset Herald, aided by John Horsley' Archaeologia Aeliana [ser3] Vol13 p5
    1832, Gentleman's Magazine pt2 p506-8 and plate
• Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Ryder, P.F., 1995. Towers and Bastles in Northumberland, Part 3 Castle Morpeth District p27-9