Peel tower

For the monument to Robert Peel in Bury, Greater Manchester, see Peel Monument, Ramsbottom.

Arnside Tower, a late-medieval pele tower in Cumbria
Smailholm Tower near Kelso in Scotland
Preston Tower, Northumberland

Peel towers (also spelt pele)[1] are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600.[2] They were free-standing with defence being a prime consideration in their design,[3] although "confirmation of status and prestige" also played a role.[4] Additionally, they functioned as watch-towers, where garrisoned personnel could light signal fires to warn of approaching danger.

The FISH Vocabulary Monument Types Thesaurus[5] lists "pele" alongside "bastle", "fortified manor house" and "tower house" under the broader term "fortified house". Pevsner defines a peel as simply a stone tower.[6] Outside of this, "peel" or "pele" can also be used in related contexts, for example a "pele" or "barmkin" (in Ireland a bawn) was an enclosure where livestock were herded in times of danger.[7] The rustling of livestock was an inevitable part of Border raids, and often their main purpose.[8] In this usage, the tower usually stood at a corner of the pele. Most pele enclosure walls have not survived, and some towers perhaps never had them. Some, known as a "vicar's pele", housed the local vicar but could also serve as a refuge for the whole community.[9]

  1. ^ Perriam, Denis; Robinson, John (1998). The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria. CWAAS.
  2. ^ Historic England
  3. ^ Fairclough, Graham (1980), "Clifton Hall, Cumbria: Excavations 1977-79" (PDF), TCWAAS, 80: 45–68, retrieved 24 June 2019
  4. ^ King, Andy (2012). "Fortresses and fashion statements: gentry castles in fourteenth-century Northumberland". Journal of Medieval History. 33 (4): 372–397. doi:10.1016/j.jmedhist.2007.09.003. ISSN 0304-4181. S2CID 159767614.
  5. ^ "FISH Terminologies: Monument Types Thesaurus" (PDF). Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  6. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1967). Cumberland and Westmorland. Yale University Press.
  7. ^ Aslet & Powers, 20; Historic England
  8. ^ Stewart (2017) p.16
  9. ^ Aslet & Powers, 20