Thistlewood Farmhouse

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

Farmhouse consisting of a fortified tower and an extension. It was probably built in the early C15 with C16 alterations and the extension was built in the late C17. The tower has thick red sandstone rubble walls with flush quoins, now under a gabled red sandstone slate roof with small banded red sandstone chimney stacks. The extension has dark-pink coursed sandstone rubble walls with flush cream sandstone quoins and eaves cornice, on chamfered plinth. The roof is of Welsh slate with bottom courses of sandstone slate. There are banded red sandstone chimney stacks. The tower is rectangular and two storeys high and the extension is also two storeys high, with four bays.

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 NY39604361

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; 510864

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 4516

• Web site links
  • http://www.visitcumbria.com/car/thistlewood.htm
• Books
  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (CWAAS) p221
    Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern) p90
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p48 [slight]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p90
    Pevsner, N., 1967, The Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth, Penguin) p146
• Journal Articles
  • Collingwood, W.G., 1923, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol23 p240