Bastle at Monk, Allendale. Photo by Peter Ryder.

(NY 78345654) Monk. (1)

Monk Farm, is said to have been a cell formerly attached to Hexham. The 17th century house, at present used as a byre, has a low arched doorway at its west end and windows in its side walls all built-up.
On a stone is the inscription EF:AF:1677, doubtless the FAIRLESS family. Edward Fairless held the Monk in 1609. (2)

The building, part of the farmstead of Monk, is at present used as a byre and milking house.
It was originally of two storeys, but the upper floor has been sometime removed and the ground floor built up some 1-1/2 feet. All existing doorways and windows are modern insertions. The dated stone, referred to by Authority 2, has, according to the tenant, now weathered so much, that the inscription is no longer visible.
The roof is modern, but at the east end at the gable top is an original dove-cote, a small square tower of stone. (3)

Remains of a bastle incorporated in the farmhouse NY 783565. (See Type Site NY 88 SE 14). The building stands on the NW side of the farmyard and consists of a long building incorporating a bastle at the NE end, and a smaller building with thick walling at the SW end. The whole building should be studied in conjunction with Old Town, (NY85SE) and Whiteley Shield (NY84NW) The dovecote surmounting the bastle may have been adapted from a watch-tower as at Melkridge.
The two-storey structure at the SW end has slit windows in the upper floor indicating that it was not intended for habitable use. The middle part of the building is probably 19th century. (4)

Monk bastle. (5)

Monk Farm stands on the east side of the valley of the West Allen river at the head of a steep slope. Known as 'le Menke' as early as 1547. Four bastle-period buildings form a range c.30.5m by c.6.2m externally; the building sequence appears to be from south to north.
No original roofs survive and the wall tops have been altered throughout. The phase I building has the appearance of a tower rather than a conventional bastle - it has a two-centred doorway of 'medieval' appearance - and may pre-date the majority of bastles in the area. The phase IV building could also be interpreted as a tower-like structure and it has been conjectured that the range was flanked by a pair of 'towers'. (6)

Range of buildings at Monk Farmhouse, supposedly an Augustinian cell of Hexham Priory, incorporating remains of a bastle. The buildings are mainly 16th and 17th century in date, though incorporating some earlier fabric, and are built of stone rubble with stone and slate roofs. The north eastern gable is capped by a dovecote supported on corbels; an adaptation of a large stack. Listed Grade II. (7)

Four bastle period buildings now form a range c.30.5m by c.6.2m externally. Later alterations obscure the relative chronology of the buildings in part, but seem to be from south to north. Phase I is an almost square building (of 6.6m sides) with massive quoins; surviving original openings are a blocked doorway in the north wall (now internal) with an unusual two centred arch and a series of splayed slits at both basement and first floor levels; the levels of these openings do not relate well to the present floor levels and could point to either a vault having been cut away (the north wall has been thinned internally) or an intermediate floor being removed. Phase II, 7.5m long, has a round arched doorway on the west and a basement slit, with remains of slightly larger windows above on the east; the round arched doorway, both in form and in position, is very reminiscent of the basement cross passage doorways at Sinderhope Shield (NY 85 SW 15); there is now a recent doorway, possibly a replacement necessitated by a change in ground level, in the opposite (east) wall. Phase III, 10.5m long, has remains of a triangular headed doorway at first floor level in the west wall, with more basement slits and larger chamfered first floor windows on the east, whilst phase IV is a square building with various blocked openings; in the north end wall are a triangular headed basement door and a large fireplace, the corbelled out stack of which has been converted into a dovecote. (8)

Dodds suggests that the bastle originated as a tower house or pele. (9a)