Staward Peel

En un regard

Le château en bref

Staward Peel is a ruined medieval pele tower with a gatehouse and ditches. It stands on a narrow, wooded, tongue-shaped promontory overlooking the gorge of the River Allen, about 570 m west-south-west of Harsondale, in the parish of Haydon (Northumberland). The terrain made the site unapproachable from the north. The only approach, a thin strip of land to the south-east, was barred by a ditch crossed by a causeway and by a gate. A second ditch, nearly 3.4 m deep, protected the north-west side. In 1316 Antony de Lucy of Langley built a timber pele here. Edward II annexed part of his lands in 1326 and, recognising the site's defensive value, sought to have a larger fortification built there. It was Thomas de Featherstonehaugh who carried out the work. The site later passed to Queen Philippa, then to Edmund, Duke of York, who leased it in 1385 to Hexham Priory. The canons held it until the Dissolution. Three sides of the tower survive. They outline a rectangle of about 25 m by 16.5 m, with walls 2.3 m thick set on a triple-stepped plinth. The carefully jointed ashlar facing stands about 3.5 m high. Of the gatehouse only a section of wall about 5 m high remains, built partly of reused Roman stones. A Roman altar that served as a quoin has been moved to Staward Manor.