Nafferton Castle, Horsley. Photo by Peter Ryder.

[NZ 07276572] Lonkin's Hall (remains of) (TI). (1)

Nafferton Castle lies on the western rim of Whittle Dene protected by a steep cliff to the east and a ravine on the south. Its site extends over an area of approximately one acre and is rectangular in shape with a substantial earthen bank on the three sides away from the burn.
Within the rampart are the fragments of a tower and surface indications of further stone structures. The first mention is in a writ of 1218 complaining that the castle was being built without licence but no further information occurs until 1221 when the building was ordered to be destroyed. It is accepted that the 13th century castle was built of wood and demolished and that the stone structures, or the greater part of them, belong to a later period.
There is a tradition of occupation in the legends and ballads concerning the mysterious Lang Lonkin. (2)

Scheduled. (3)

Published survey (25 inch) and description correct. See APs F/54/38/3 for remains of tower, F/54/38/4 north ditch and causeway and F/54/38/5 shows the gap in the west bank. (4)

Nafferton (Lonkins Hall) Tower or Castle. Lies north of bridge over Whittle Dene on the Newcastle to Corbridge Road, known as Lonkins Hall. Never completed. Dismantled stones used to build the bridge. (5)

The standing remains are those of a late medieval tower. Stone from the tower was removed to build the nearby bridge of the Dene in 1809 although substantial ruins were still standing in 1842 when G B Richardson made a series of pencil sketches and a sketch plan. These show the east wall of the tower standing high, with a pair of ragged openings at its foot; there was another opening, perhaps a doorway, towards the east end of the north wall, with remains of a window above; the south and west walls were more ruinous; facing stone had been robbed from the lower parts of most of the wall faces.
The site is roughly rectangular, measuring roughly 90m north-south by 60m east-west, and delimited by a rampart and ditch, except on the east where there is a steep drop to the Burn; on the south the ravine of a tributary replaces the ditch.
The remains of the tower stand just within the south west corner of the rampart; it is roughly 8.2m square (although rather irregularly laid out) with walls 0.9m-1.5m thickness, of good quality squared sandstone laid in regular courses. The north east corner stands to a height of c.6.5m, with lower remains of the rest of the east wall; of the two ragged gaps here, the northern has been a window (part of its internal splay remains visible) and the southern a doorway, its drawbar tunnels recorded during the excavations, when part of the west wall (no longer visible) was exposed.
There are slight traces of two further stone walled structures or enclosures extending eastward from the tower along the south edge of the site. The remains of a further structure, aligned roughly north-south, south west of the gap (entrance?) in the centre of the northern rampart, are shown, each time on a slightly different alignment, on the published plan and on two different versions of a plan of the site given on the OS card. Richardson's sketch plan shows the east, south and southern part of the west walls of this structure. There are now only the slightest traces of a building visible in this area. (6)

Scheduled. (7)

NZ 072 657. Nafferton Tower (also known as Lonkins Tower). Scheduled No ND/313. (8a)

Listed by Cathcart King. (8b)

The bailey was seen as an earthwork and mapped from air photographs; the remains of the tower house are still visible also. (8c)