IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Chesterwood, HEXHAM, NE47 6HW

The partially obscured house on the right was originally a bastle house. According to Ramm, McDowall and Mercer in "Shielings and Bastles" (1970) "The entrance in the S wall is by an 18th century doorway with chamfered jambs and lintel and the windows are later. The walls are about 3 ft thick." Unfortunately, all of the stonework is obscured by the harling. See also Image, Image, Image and Image

The lefthand cottage was originally a bastle house. According to Ramm, McDowall and Mercer in "Shielings and Bastles" (1970) "E of Image is a two-storey house with a modern slated roof finished against a gable parapet formed with specially shaped stones. The house measures externally 21 ft by 26¾ ft and is built of large random rubble with roughly squared quoins. The front has 19th century hung-sash windows. The doorway, placed off-centre in the front, has chamfered jambs and lintel, and above it one jamb and the lintel of a blocked first-floor doorway remain. The W wall is 4 ft thick and the rear 3 ft thick." See also Image, Image, Image and Image

See Image

According to Ramm, McDowall and Mercer in "Shielings and Bastles" (1970) "this long building now of one lofty storey only is used as a farm store. The walling is of large random blocks, roughly coursed and with small packing pieces between them {see Image}. The building is divided into two by a cross-wall which originally formed the E end wall of the W part; the E part was built later. The walls vary in thickness: to the N 3 ft, to the south 3½ ft, to the E 3¾ ft. There are doorways, now blocked, 6 ft from each end of the S front and a small vent in the W part. Small offsets in the walls, now some 5 ft above floor level, presumably carried the timbers for an upper floor which has been completely removed, and the walls have been reduced in height." See also Image, Image, Image and Image

In August 2010, renovation of this old bastle house was in progress - see Image and Image According to Ramm, McDowall and Mercer in "Shielings and Bastles" (1970) this "small two-storey building measures 27 ft by 22 ft (approx) externally. The lower storey has walls about 3½ ft thick, the E end being built on a base course of large unshaped boulders. The upper storey has walls only 1½ ft thick. The W gable wall is carried up to a parapet finished with specially shaped stones and has a chimney." See also Image, Image, Image and Image

See Image

According to Ramm, McDowall and Mercer in "Shielings and Bastles" (1970) "this two-storey building measures 22 ft by 29 ft (approx) externally, with walls averaging nearly 3 ft thick. The W end wall is slightly thicker (3½ ft) and belongs to an earlier building which ran westwards and has been replaced by a house of the 19th century. The building has a doorway to the lower storey on the S side and on the same side an outside stone stairway leading to the upper storey." I am grateful to Dave Clark for the info that this building was once called "The Golf House". The owner of the bastle told me that in the early part of the 20th century it was used as a clubhouse by those playing golf on a nearby course (of which, no trace now remains). See also Image, Image, Image and Image

The foundation stones are enormous and the walls are about 3 ft thick; the bastle is currently (August 2010) being painstakingly renovated. It is a Scheduled Monument - see http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N7590.

The foundation stones are enormous and the walls are about 3 ft thick; the bastle is currently (August 2010) being painstakingly renovated. It is a Scheduled Monument - see http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N7590.