Brackenhill Tower

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

Brackenhill Tower is a fortified Border tower house, its importance stemming from the fact that it is a unique example of a Scottish-style tower sitting on English soil. It was built in 1584, for the Graham family, replacing an earlier tower which may have dated to C13 or earlier. Constructed from large blocks of red sandstone rubble, the external elevations are virtually unaltered from its original state. The walls are fiveft thick and rise to fortyft in height and there is a double gabled slated roof which is surrounded by a corbelled and battlemented parapet. In 1717, the fifth Richard Graham constructed a brick cottage to the south east of the tower. These are the earliest signs of the site being consolidated. There is no evidence of the sort of alterations which would have been expected such as the enlargement of windows, when what was essentially a medieval tower continued in use as a Georgian house. One alteration was the insertion of the present west doorway of the basement and possibly the superstructure of the tower at attic level as the two end chimneys look to be of this date. It remains uncertain whether the roof trusses are contemporary with the stacks or were later alterations in 1860. Towards the end of C18 the property was sold to the Stephenson family, (the family name later changed to Standish), who built a new dining room and kitchen. In 1860 the tower and the cottage seem to have adjoined corner-to-corner, with a physical internal link, and a porch was added at the front of the original tower. It appears that the tower and cottage were linked together to form a hunting lodge. The ground of Brackenhill contains a planned hunting landscape which was commissioned by the Standish family specifically for recreational hunting. By the end of World War II the Carlyle family were the tenants and in 1946, when the Standish Estate was put up for sale, the Carlyle's acquired the Brackenhill Estate.

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

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY44576948

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; 11561

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 206

• Web site links
  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/features/2003/07/restoration/brackenhill.shtml
• Books
  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (CWAAS) p227
    Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern) p21
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p35-6
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p82
    Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p42-3
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p74
    Hugill, R.,1939, Borderland Castles and Peles [1970 Reprint by Frank Graham] p51
    Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal) p352-3
• Journal Articles
  • Anon, 2005, 'A Turbulent History: Brackenhill Tower near Longtown, Cumbria NY445695' CSG Newsletter Vol7 Issue1 p2
    Martindale, 1908, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol8 p375-6