Clennell Hall (Netherton with Biddlestone)
East view of Clennell Hall, Biddlestone. Photo by Peter Ryder.
(NT 92900715) Clennell. Described in the Survey of 1541 as a little tower, belonging to Percival Clennell, newly repaired and brattisched, barmkin being constructed around the tower. (Not listed in the Survey of 1415 pp 12-20). (1)
The 1895 modernised - Tudor style mansion is attached to an ancient pele tower and an Elizabethan wing.
The tower measures 30 feet by 22 feet, with walls 6 feet thick, and seems to be rather late in date. The ground floor is covered by a segmental barrel vault and has a loophole at one end and entrance door at the other end, in this case the south. The door opened into a lobby with an inner door to the vault. A stair ascends in the wall westards. There was an upper floor and perhaps an attic over. In 1568 as is shown by the date on the door-lintel, a new wing was built running westwards, and set with half its depth projecting southwards from the tower. It was two storeys high with a south door, having a two-light window on each side and with three windows on the floor above. At the same time or earlier, a storey was added to the old tower, and the Tudor fireplace remains. Then or later, an addition afterwards demolished was made to the east side fo the tower, and a doorway cut at first floor level to give access to it. The old entrance door was converted into a window, and the mural stair replaced by a passage driven through into the new wing.
About the end of the 17th century, a third storey was added to the west wing with a low pitched roof, and the tower roof was altered. During 1895 several large windows were inserted into the Elizabethan wing, and a passage was built crossing the south front of the tower to reach a new east wing. More recently, the upper door in the east wall of the tower has been converted to a window and the old loophole enlarged into a door. (2)
The tower must have been built between 1509 and 1541, since it is not mentioned in the list of border fortresses of 1509. (3)
Description correct. The owner, Mr Vining, is abroad, the house is closed up, and the interior details of the Peel were not checked.
Clennell is situated in a strategic position, commanding the entrance to the valley of the River Alwin which runs to the north. It also overlooks the confluence of the Alwin with the River Coquet to the south-west, and further hill slopes to the east and south-east. It commands also a minor valley rising into the hills to the north-east. There are no traces of the barmkin, added c.1541. (4)
Condition unchanged. (5)
Clennel Hall, grade II listed building. Originally a tower house with attached house of 1567. Large additions of 1895. (6)
The old part of the house is three storeyed and consists of an east-west range 9.1m by 7m externally (the tower) with, attached to its south side a double pile range 9.1m north-south by 12m east-west, with a twin gabled south front and an east wall set forward from that of the tower. The tower is built of heavy rubble. At basement level its walls are c.1.5-1.7m thick, except on the south, where the wall is only c.0.65m. The south range is of roughly coursed rubble with cut dressings and has walls c.0.65-0.7m thick.
BASEMENT:
The original access to the basement of the tower was by a doorway in the centre of the east end; this was later converted into a two light mullioned window, although its original hinges remain exposed internally. The doorway gave access to a small lobby, with a passage, said to have been a mural stair, extending to the south and now ending in a modern doorway opening into the house. The inner end of the lobby has a square headed chamfered doorway opening from the cellar; this seems to have a drawbar socket (now infilled) in its northern internal jamb, set in a position opposite the passage/stair and implying that the latter is a later insertion.
The basement has a segmental vault, 1.32m above the floor at the springing and 2.41m at the crown, badly distorted in parts. In the centre of the west wall was what, in 1903, could be described by Dixon as 'a fine deeply splayed loop untouched by the restorer', but has since been converted into a rough doorway into the present kitchen; only the inner jambs and inner lintel survive.
FIRST FLOOR:
At first floor level the tower contains a single bedroom with a small bathroom on the west, entered by a doorway in the south wall. In the east wall is a three light mullioned window, altered but with an old head, with traces of what may be an earlier opening immediately to the north. On the north are a two light and a single light window, both 19th century in their present form, although the former occupies what is said to be a former doorway (interpreted as communicating with an extension demolished before 1895) and the latter, within the bathroom, is set in a deep recess or wall closet. In the centre of the north wall is a bolection moulded fireplace, probably of the early 18th century.
SECOND FLOOR:
The second floor of the tower has a similar arrangement of rooms. On the east is another altered three light window (with possible traces of an earlier loop below) and on the north, lighting a wall closet, a small square chamfered loop which seems old. The north wall has a fireplace with a flat pointed arch within a surround moulded with a hollow chamfer and a quarter roll, perhaps of 16th or early 17th century date.
SOUTH RANGE:
This has originally been of two storeys. The second floor is an addition, perhaps of later 18th century date and at any rate, predating the 1895 extensions.
On the east is a doorway flanked by a two light window in the north and a former three light window (apparently converted first into a sash and then, in 1895, into a mullion and transom cross window) on the south. The doorway has a surround moulded with a wave and a quarter round and has had a shaped head now cut square. Above are two more mullion and transom cross windows of 1895 (the southern preserving the head of an older three light window) and another old two light window. The second floor has two two-light windows, earlier openings which received inner chamfered frames and mullions in 1895.
The eastern gable of the two gables at the south end of the range has a 19th century two light window to the ground floor, but old three light and two light windows to the floor above the original attic. The western gable has a two storeyed projecting bay of 1895 and a three light window of the same date above.
The west wall of the house, now internal, preserves one old window at ground floor level, now a mullion and transom cross, but incorporating older stonework.
Internally, the walls of the range are plastered with no old features visible other than a panel of 16th or 17th century plasterwork, showing a hunting scene, above the first floor south window in the front range. This may well have been brought from elsewhere.
DISCUSSION:
Clennell Hall is a building with a number of structural puzzles. The 'tower' is clearly the oldest part; its masonry and the central position of the basement doorway, are reminiscent of local bastles, but the apparent mural stair and the fact that the building appears to have risen to at least three storeys, argue in favour of it being a tower proper. Its plan is quite similar to nearby Biddlestone. The character of the fabric argues for quite a late date, perhaps in the 16th century.
Two areas of the tower are problematical:
(a) The entrance. The apparent draw bar slot behind the inner doorway suggests that the mural stair is an insertion. If this is the case, it would seem strange to have an entrance lobby with two doorways (although this does occur at Whitton Tower). One interpretation might be that the original access to the basement was from above and that the tower was entered by a first floor door (possibly that in the north wall). Only later was an external doorway cut through from the lobby, although this was later converted into a window at the same time as the mural stair was cut away to provide a passage into the ground floor of the south range.
(b) Another puzzle is seen in the south wall of the tower. It is unusually thin which might imply either that there was always an attached structure at this point (possibly a hall block predating the present south range) or that the external face of the wall has been cut back when the range was added. The wall remains thin (c.0.7m) at the upper floors, but appears to be set further north.
The south range also provides some puzzles. Most published descriptions quote the date '1586' as being carved on the lintel of the east door. There is now no sign of any carving here; the earliest account (Dixon) describes only 'slight traces of what appear to be a date' and states that it had been read as both '1313' and '1365'. The date '1568' cannot then be given muchcredibility and, as has been pointed out, would be exceptionally early for an undefended ground floor house in this area. The architectural features and double pile form of the house all point to a date in the 17th century, perhaps quite late ('1668'?). (7)
The 1895 modernised - Tudor style mansion is attached to an ancient pele tower and an Elizabethan wing.
The tower measures 30 feet by 22 feet, with walls 6 feet thick, and seems to be rather late in date. The ground floor is covered by a segmental barrel vault and has a loophole at one end and entrance door at the other end, in this case the south. The door opened into a lobby with an inner door to the vault. A stair ascends in the wall westards. There was an upper floor and perhaps an attic over. In 1568 as is shown by the date on the door-lintel, a new wing was built running westwards, and set with half its depth projecting southwards from the tower. It was two storeys high with a south door, having a two-light window on each side and with three windows on the floor above. At the same time or earlier, a storey was added to the old tower, and the Tudor fireplace remains. Then or later, an addition afterwards demolished was made to the east side fo the tower, and a doorway cut at first floor level to give access to it. The old entrance door was converted into a window, and the mural stair replaced by a passage driven through into the new wing.
About the end of the 17th century, a third storey was added to the west wing with a low pitched roof, and the tower roof was altered. During 1895 several large windows were inserted into the Elizabethan wing, and a passage was built crossing the south front of the tower to reach a new east wing. More recently, the upper door in the east wall of the tower has been converted to a window and the old loophole enlarged into a door. (2)
The tower must have been built between 1509 and 1541, since it is not mentioned in the list of border fortresses of 1509. (3)
Description correct. The owner, Mr Vining, is abroad, the house is closed up, and the interior details of the Peel were not checked.
Clennell is situated in a strategic position, commanding the entrance to the valley of the River Alwin which runs to the north. It also overlooks the confluence of the Alwin with the River Coquet to the south-west, and further hill slopes to the east and south-east. It commands also a minor valley rising into the hills to the north-east. There are no traces of the barmkin, added c.1541. (4)
Condition unchanged. (5)
Clennel Hall, grade II listed building. Originally a tower house with attached house of 1567. Large additions of 1895. (6)
The old part of the house is three storeyed and consists of an east-west range 9.1m by 7m externally (the tower) with, attached to its south side a double pile range 9.1m north-south by 12m east-west, with a twin gabled south front and an east wall set forward from that of the tower. The tower is built of heavy rubble. At basement level its walls are c.1.5-1.7m thick, except on the south, where the wall is only c.0.65m. The south range is of roughly coursed rubble with cut dressings and has walls c.0.65-0.7m thick.
BASEMENT:
The original access to the basement of the tower was by a doorway in the centre of the east end; this was later converted into a two light mullioned window, although its original hinges remain exposed internally. The doorway gave access to a small lobby, with a passage, said to have been a mural stair, extending to the south and now ending in a modern doorway opening into the house. The inner end of the lobby has a square headed chamfered doorway opening from the cellar; this seems to have a drawbar socket (now infilled) in its northern internal jamb, set in a position opposite the passage/stair and implying that the latter is a later insertion.
The basement has a segmental vault, 1.32m above the floor at the springing and 2.41m at the crown, badly distorted in parts. In the centre of the west wall was what, in 1903, could be described by Dixon as 'a fine deeply splayed loop untouched by the restorer', but has since been converted into a rough doorway into the present kitchen; only the inner jambs and inner lintel survive.
FIRST FLOOR:
At first floor level the tower contains a single bedroom with a small bathroom on the west, entered by a doorway in the south wall. In the east wall is a three light mullioned window, altered but with an old head, with traces of what may be an earlier opening immediately to the north. On the north are a two light and a single light window, both 19th century in their present form, although the former occupies what is said to be a former doorway (interpreted as communicating with an extension demolished before 1895) and the latter, within the bathroom, is set in a deep recess or wall closet. In the centre of the north wall is a bolection moulded fireplace, probably of the early 18th century.
SECOND FLOOR:
The second floor of the tower has a similar arrangement of rooms. On the east is another altered three light window (with possible traces of an earlier loop below) and on the north, lighting a wall closet, a small square chamfered loop which seems old. The north wall has a fireplace with a flat pointed arch within a surround moulded with a hollow chamfer and a quarter roll, perhaps of 16th or early 17th century date.
SOUTH RANGE:
This has originally been of two storeys. The second floor is an addition, perhaps of later 18th century date and at any rate, predating the 1895 extensions.
On the east is a doorway flanked by a two light window in the north and a former three light window (apparently converted first into a sash and then, in 1895, into a mullion and transom cross window) on the south. The doorway has a surround moulded with a wave and a quarter round and has had a shaped head now cut square. Above are two more mullion and transom cross windows of 1895 (the southern preserving the head of an older three light window) and another old two light window. The second floor has two two-light windows, earlier openings which received inner chamfered frames and mullions in 1895.
The eastern gable of the two gables at the south end of the range has a 19th century two light window to the ground floor, but old three light and two light windows to the floor above the original attic. The western gable has a two storeyed projecting bay of 1895 and a three light window of the same date above.
The west wall of the house, now internal, preserves one old window at ground floor level, now a mullion and transom cross, but incorporating older stonework.
Internally, the walls of the range are plastered with no old features visible other than a panel of 16th or 17th century plasterwork, showing a hunting scene, above the first floor south window in the front range. This may well have been brought from elsewhere.
DISCUSSION:
Clennell Hall is a building with a number of structural puzzles. The 'tower' is clearly the oldest part; its masonry and the central position of the basement doorway, are reminiscent of local bastles, but the apparent mural stair and the fact that the building appears to have risen to at least three storeys, argue in favour of it being a tower proper. Its plan is quite similar to nearby Biddlestone. The character of the fabric argues for quite a late date, perhaps in the 16th century.
Two areas of the tower are problematical:
(a) The entrance. The apparent draw bar slot behind the inner doorway suggests that the mural stair is an insertion. If this is the case, it would seem strange to have an entrance lobby with two doorways (although this does occur at Whitton Tower). One interpretation might be that the original access to the basement was from above and that the tower was entered by a first floor door (possibly that in the north wall). Only later was an external doorway cut through from the lobby, although this was later converted into a window at the same time as the mural stair was cut away to provide a passage into the ground floor of the south range.
(b) Another puzzle is seen in the south wall of the tower. It is unusually thin which might imply either that there was always an attached structure at this point (possibly a hall block predating the present south range) or that the external face of the wall has been cut back when the range was added. The wall remains thin (c.0.7m) at the upper floors, but appears to be set further north.
The south range also provides some puzzles. Most published descriptions quote the date '1586' as being carved on the lintel of the east door. There is now no sign of any carving here; the earliest account (Dixon) describes only 'slight traces of what appear to be a date' and states that it had been read as both '1313' and '1365'. The date '1568' cannot then be given muchcredibility and, as has been pointed out, would be exceptionally early for an undefended ground floor house in this area. The architectural features and double pile form of the house all point to a date in the 17th century, perhaps quite late ('1668'?). (7)
N1056
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1957; A S Phillips
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1970; B H Pritchard
THEMATIC SURVEY, Towers and Bastles in Northumberland 1995; P RYDER
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1970; B H Pritchard
THEMATIC SURVEY, Towers and Bastles in Northumberland 1995; P RYDER
Disclaimer -
Please note that this information has been compiled from a number of different sources. Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council can accept no responsibility for any inaccuracy contained therein. If you wish to use/copy any of the images, please ensure that you read the Copyright information provided.