More information : A pele tower is alleged to have stood at Waterhead, but the site has not been found. (1)
(NY 7705 8997) Small earthwork? (2)
NY 7706 8977 The remains of a strong building visible as a grass covered mound, rectangular and measuring 5.0 metres x 6.0 metres; it stands to a maximum height of 1.5 metres. No dating evidence is available, and without excavtion it is impossible to ascertain the original thickness of the walls.
The situation is upon the south-east slope of a low promontory and is strongly defensive. 20.0 metres to the north-east precipitous slopes drop to the Tarset Burn, on the three remaining sides the foundations of strong dry stone walls contain strips of marshland. The site commands the Tarset valley to the north-west, north-east and south -east, overlooking open moorland to the south-west.
In proximity to the main building are four mutilated steading foundations. It cannot be stated whether or not the latter mentioned foundations are contemporary with the main feature. There are no surface indications of old trackways or plough lines; no field names were obtainable.
The defensive nature of this site, together with the fact that the original main building appears to have been of considerable strength, leads to the possibility that these are the remains of the Pele tower quoted by authority 1. Waterhead - approximately 475.0 metres to the north-west - is a small modern farmhouse.
A sketch survey of the site was made (3a). (3)
The site is generally as described, except that the enclosing wall, now reduced to an earth and stone bank, continues round the edge of the steep river slope on the N.side.The remains would appear to be those of a peel, together with a farmstead of contemporary, or later, date. Surveyed at 1:2500. (4)
As described in reports of 31.8.56 and 29.7.70.
Surveyed at 1:10 000. (5)
Hill House bastle (NY 7706 8977) was surveyed by RCHME in February 1997 at 1:500 scale. The remains consist of a small bastle, probably of 16th century date, partly enclosed, with four other farmstead buildings of contemporary or later date. The situation of the site and its archaeological details are essentially as described by the previous field authorities except that it is now on the E perimeter of Kielder Forest. Although the site has been cleared the earthworks have suffered damage from earlier afforestation.
Hill House bastle and associated enclosures were scheduled on 8th December 1994 (6a).
Hill House is on the `Reivers' Trail', a footpath which visits other bastle houses along the Tarset Burn; a visitor information board has been erected on site on which the name `Woodhouse bastle' is given although the provenance of this name is unknown.
Waterhead bastle (NY 79 SE 11), noted by authority 1, has been identified as a separate site (6b).
The main feature of the site is the bastle itself, surviving as a turf-covered mound, 1.4m high internally. Two small lengths of stone facing in the interior which survive on adjacent sides, suggest that the building measured 5.8m by 5.6m internally, within walls at least 0.8m thick. There is no indication of an entrance. There are three, possibly four, less substantial buildings in close proximity to the bastle; two of these are immediately adjacent to the bastle. The first of these apparently adjoined the bastle and measured not more than 4.5m by 3.5m internally. Its turf-covered walls survive to a maximum height of 0.6m and are 0.8m wide on its northern side; elsewhere it has been severely mutilated or robbed.
Situated on the NE side of the bastle is a freestanding rectangular building defined by stony banks up to 0.6m high. It is built on a platform 0.8m high and consists of two rooms. The NW room is 8.5m by 3.5m internally. The SW room is less clearly defined but cannot have been more than 4m in length.
These remains lie at the centre of the enclosing earth and stone bank mentioned by previous authorites, which surrounds the bastle site on three sides, to the NW, NE and SE. It is up to 0.9m high internally, 0.5m externally and is between 2.5m - 3.0m wide overall. Air photographs (ref 2) of the site pre-afforestation show that the banks continue up onto Sidwood Moor for a distance of about 200m, creating a funnel shape which could have been designed to aid stock herding. Inside the enclosure bank is a broad shallow ditch present on three sides. This is best seen on the NW and SE sides; on the SW side it is represented by a scarp 0.6m high. Although the ditch will have afforded more protection to the site its primary function may have been to provide a well-drained, level site for the buildings.
Adjoining the exterior of the enclosure bank , at its N corner is another rectangular, two-roomed building surviving as stony banks. Part of the building has evidently fallen away down the steep scarp to the river bank. Internally the building is 4.5m wide, the NW room 5.5m long and the other at least 10m long. Each room has an entrance in its S corner suggesting that there was no internal communication between the two.
It is likely that there was a further small structure situated in the N corner of the enclosure bank; although the bank has been destroyed at this point the presence of an S-shaped scarp suggest mutilated building remains.
Haugh-hill House is first mentioned in 1552 (6c). It was raided by the Scots in 1583 with a number of other sites along the valley (6d). In 1663 `Hillhouse upon Tarsett Water' is described as `a messuage containing in arable land, meadow and pasture 20 acres and sufficient common of pasture' held by John Hunter (6e). In 1749 land tax was paid on it by Mrs Barbary Hall (6f). It is not marked on Armstrong's map of 1769 by this name although the `Haugh' is shown nearby. Similarly `Hillas' appears on a map of 1841 (6g). (6) |