Longthorpe Tower

In the civil parish of Peterborough.
In the historic county of Northamptonshire (Soke of Peterborough) (Modern Authority of Peterborough; City of, 1974 county of Cambridgeshire).

Longthorpe Tower House was built circa 1263, with the tower added in circa 1300. It contains one of the most complete and elaborate schemes of domestic medieval wall paintings in England. The house consits of an original stone-built north-south wing with a slate roof by William de Thorpe circa 1263, There is a solar window in the north wall. The tower was added at the north east circa 1300, with C17 alterations. It is a square plan with turrets on the corners and walls about 2m thick. It has three storeys and small, single light, windows. The wall paintings in the great chamber date to C14.

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

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 49725)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TL16209838

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 364093

Web site links

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.33

Books

Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern) p21
Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p272
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p167
Taylor, Alison, 1986, Castles of Cambridgeshire (Cambridge)
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p319-20
Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p256
Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1961, Buildings of England: Northamptonshire (Penguin) p284-5
Downman, E.A., 1906, in Serjeantson, R.M., Ryland, W. and Adkins, D. (eds), VCH Northampton Vol2 p456-7, 459
Turner, T.H., 1851, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol1 p153

Journal Articles

Casagrande, Gino and Kleinhenz, Christopher, 1985, 'Literary and Philosophical Perspectives on the Wheel of the Five Senses in Longthorpe Tower' Traditio Vol41 p311-27
[Fletcher], 1969, Medieval Archaeology Vol13 p273
Rouse, E.Clive and Baker, Audley, 1955, 'The wall-paintings at Longthorpe Tower' Archaeologia Vol96 pp1-57
Country Life Vol101 p604

Guidebooks

2001, Longthorpe Tower Cambridge (English Heritage)
Rouse, E.Clive, 1987, Longthorpe Tower (English Heritage)
Rouse, E.Clive, 1949, Longthorpe Tower (HMSO)

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.

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*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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