Clifton Hall

In the civil parish of Clifton.
In the historic county of Westmorland (Modern Authority of Cumbria, 1974 county of Cumbria).

Clifton Hall is a small pele tower which stands on its own beside a farmyard. It does not have the usual massive walls It is thought it was built in the C16. The tower measures 33 ft by 26 ft and has three stories, the ground floor being divided into a number of rooms. The windows are larger than in older peles, and there is a newel stair in the south-west corner leading to the upper rooms and roof. Excavation uncovered the remains of a Medieval hall and cross-wing, the extant tower replaced the cross-wing and in C17 a new larger hall was built on the south side.

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

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY53072711

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; 12035

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 02895

• Web site links
  • http://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/clifthal.htm
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.147
• Books
  • Yates, Sarah (ed), 2002, Heritage Unlocked; Guide to free sites in the North West (English Heritage) p28-9
    Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern) p39
    Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (CWAAS) p272-3
    Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol1 (Cambridge) p201
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p269
    Cope, Jean, 1991, Castles in Cumbria (Cicerone Press) p110-12
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p491
    Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p68-9
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p240
    RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p69-70
    Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal) p360
    Taylor, M.W., 1892, Old Manorial Halls of Westmorland and Cumberland (CWAAS extra series Vol8) p77-81
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p208
• Journal Articles
  • Fairclough, G., 1980, ‘Clifton Hall, Cumbria: excavations 1977-79' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol80 p45-68
    Cherry, John (ed), 1978, 'Post-medieval Britain in 1977' Post-Medieval Archaeology Vol12 p115
    Jackson, 1912, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol12 p135-42