Drumburgh Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Drombogh

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

Tower House, now a farmhouse. C13, licence to crenellate granted to Robert le Brun in 24 August 1307. Alterations originally dated 1518 with initials and coat of arms of Thomas Lord Dacre over entrance; further alterations between 1678 and 1681 for John Aglionby and C19 additions. Extremely thick walls of squared and coursed red sandstone (from the nearby Hadrian's Wall). Of three storeys (formerly four storeys), five bays; single-storey single-bay extension to left. Site of a moat, no longer visible. Recently and carefully restored.

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

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1307 Aug 24.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY26565977

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; 10010

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 4549

• Web site links
  • http://www.visitcumbria.com/pele2.htm
• Books
  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (CWAAS) p66
    Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern) p49
    Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol1 (Cambridge) p263
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p40
    Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carel Press) p54
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p85
    Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p84-5
    Pevsner, N., 1967, The Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth, Penguin) p74
    Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal) p188, 202-3
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p311
    Taylor, M.W., 1892, Old Manorial Halls of Westmorland and Cumberland (CWAAS extra series Vol8) p352
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p405
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1853, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol2 p225
• Journal Articles
  • Bennet, J., Herne, A. and Whitworth, A., 1987, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol87 p81
    Webster, L.E. and Cherry, J., 1979, ‘Medieval Britain in 1978' Medieval Archaeology Vol23 p270
    McIntire, W.T., 1929, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol29 p205-10
    Arch Notes, 1925-6, Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society Vol3 p216
    1920, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol20 p220-2
    Graham, 1911, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol11 p241-2
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1307-13) p11
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/cumbeng.html#cumb16]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p93
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol5 p51