Birdoswald Bastles

In the civil parish of Waterhead.
In the historic county of Cumberland (Modern Authority of Cumbria, 1974 county of Cumbria).

In C16 a bastle house (some sources write two bastles) replaced the tower house, which in its turn was replaced by a farmhouse in C17 The farmhouse may, in fact date to the C15 or early C16 and thus be the second bastle. A family called the Tweddles lived in Birdoswald's Bastle House in the 1580's. Raided twice by the Elliots and the Nicksons in 1588 and again in 1590 by the Armstrongs. Having their door burnt' down and their cattle and household goods stolen.

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

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 78182)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY615663

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; 13993

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 6304

Web site links
- http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/wallnet/bird/t-bastle.htm
  http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/86/birdoswaldbastle.htm
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern) p20
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (CWAAS) p134-5
  Wilmott, Tony, 1994, Birdoswald: excavations of a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall and its successor settlements, 1987-92 (English Heritage Archaeological reports [new ser] Vol14)
Guidebooks
- Wilmott, Tony, 2005, Birdoswald Roman Fort (English Heritage)
  Wilmott, Tony, 1995, Birdoswald - A History and Souvenir Guide (Cumbria County Council) p49-53
Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
- Barker, Louise and Rushworth, Alan (compilers), 1998, Hadrian's Wall at Birdoswald: a survey of the extent and state of preservation of Archaeological remains in the guardianship of English Heritage

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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This record last updated on Friday, April 6, 2007

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