Ninebanks Tower, West Allen. Photo by Peter Ryder.

(NY 78205320) Old Tower. (1)

Now part of a house. A blocked two-light window on the east face looks early Tudor, but the Newel stair on the west face, with large windows, partly blocked and ruinous, must be Jacobean. (2)

The tower, now a roofless shell, is not out-standing. See G.P. AO/56/412/1 and annotated sketch plan. (3)

14/242 NINEBANKS (West side) Ninebanks Tower, adjacent to the south end of Ninebanks Post Office. Grade II*.
Tower, built onto east gable of earlier manor house in early 16th century, heightened and stair turret added later 16th century. Rubble with stone dressings, later 16th century work more massive rubble. Roughly square in plan. Four storeys; rectangular stair turret at west end of north face. Elevation to street (east): blocked rectangular chamfered loop just above ground level with small inserted window over, first floor window formerly of two lights, monolithic head with two-centred arches, second-floor rectangular chamfered window with a pair of raised inverted shields on the lintel. Weathering of a pitched roof or gablet above. Hollow-chamfered course carries oversailing third floor with a pair of rectangular windows one above the other, and a corbelled cornice which formerly supported a parapet. Stair turret has three chamfered loops. Right return has blocked Tudor-arched door partly concealed by the stair turret, and a rectangular chamfered first floor loop. Left return has chamfered loops to the first and third floors and a small slit to the second. Two stone spouts project from the moulded parapet. To the left a buttress-like projection is part of the earlier house. Rear elevation shows inserted door and much patching; several doorways with chamfered surrounds, some blocked, in stair turret. To left of turret one jamb of a ground-floor window of the former north range.
Interior; at first and second floor levels doorways with monolithic Tudor-arched heads, now blocked; to right of the second-floor door is a blocked chamfered window, looking into the tower, ie. part of the gable of the earlier manor house. At third floor level the remains of a fireplace. Lower section of stair turret now infilled; upper part retains its stone newel stair, with near the top a circular gunloop on the north.
The heraldry on the tower, now defaced, is thought to relate to Sir Thomas Dacre, ruler of Hexhamshire 1515-1526. (4)

Nine Banks Tower. Part of one of the houses in the hamlet, has blocked Tudor windows and Jacobean newel stair. Very small, may have been attached to a larger tower. A large 16th century tower stood on the site. Tower now standing was added later. (5)

The tower measures 3.6m by 4m externally and is an addition to an earlier building c.6.8m wide; its walls are only 0.55m-0.65m thick. The tower has four floors. Access to the upper floors is by a newel stair in a rectangular turret, later than the tower, at its north west corner. Most of the windows are chamfered square headed loops (some blocked), although at first floor level on the east is a window with two lancet arched lights (its mullion gone). The stair turret has small chamfered loops except for a small circular opening, apparently a gunloop, on the north near the top.
Inside, blocked doorways with shallow triangular heads gave access to the tower from the first and second floors of the adjacent wing. To the north of the second floor door is a square headed window, which must pre-date the addition of the tower. On the top floor are remains of a fireplace with a corbelled out lintel, and also a series of apparent nesting boxes, suggesting that the upper chamber has been adapted for use as a dovecote at some time.
The stair turret has also been altered, the lower part being sealed off; access is now through a doorway at first floor level; at first and second floor levels there have been doorways into the turret both from the east-west wing and from a second wing extending along the road to the north. This is shown in old prints; it had mullioned windows with round arched lights. One jamb of such a window remains, attached to the stair turret.
This thin walled tower cannot be classed as a seriously defensible feature, although it might conceivably have served as a lookout. (6)

Scheduled. (7)

A programme of recording and monitoring was undertaken by Addyman Archaeology in 2009 and 2010 during consolidation work to the tower. The works to the tower principally involved masonry repairs. The tower incorporates a number of individual phases of construction. These are not always easy to read or understand; the evidence of the earlier phases in particular are in part obscured by both the later re-buildings and by repeated patching and, latterly, areas of consolidation. A suggested phasing is set out below:
- Phase 1 (15th century?): as previously recognised the earliest remains appear to be parts of a substantial, rubble-built eastern gable wall of a 1½ or 2-storied structure that had extended westwards from the present tower. A buttress-like feature that now runs out southwards from the south-western angle of the existing tower represents part of the fabric of the earlier structure ' its SE angle; here quoining is evident. There had been so much subsequent alteration and previous repair in cement that this early structure is not easily read. However within the tower interior at ground floor level can be seen the N jamb and sill of a small window, this detailed with a chamfered surround; at second floor level there is a further window of similar character. At first floor level the S jamb and arched head of an entrance survives, this also detailed with a chamfered surround; at second floor level, off-set to the S, there is a further, less substantial entrance. These features were subsequently blocked; at ground and first floor the early openings were substantially damaged by the slapping of a much later ground floor entrance. As an alternative interpretation to Peter Ryder's it is perhaps possible that both the first and second floor entrance is secondary, cut through to provide access into the later tower ' it is suggested that this is the more likely scenario at least for the second floor opening. The first floor entrance may be external, accessed by an exterior stair. With the extensive patching of the structure to the W exterior the evidence there is ambiguous at least, though the second floor opening appears to be secondary, cutting across the line of what seems likely to be the early gable head.
- Phase 2 (later 15th to early 16th century?): a small tower was added to the earlier structure, perhaps functioning as a porch-stair tower as suggested by Peter Ryder. The tower had external access at the W end of its N wall, an arch-headed entrance that is now largely buried when seen from the exterior; it is also blocked and overlain by the masonry of the adjacent stair tower. Centrally set on the E elevation there is a small ground floor window (now blocked with a secondary window slapped above), a two-light first floor window with arched beads, its mullion now missing, and a further rectangular window at second floor level, this with the armorial device over. At first floor level there were also small centrally positioned rectangular windows to N and S, as elsewhere detailed with simple chamfered surrounds. At second floor level on the S elevation there is a further small light.
- Phase 3 (mid 16th century): the phase 2 tower was remodelled. Whatever the detail of its uppermost parts this was dismantled and a full upper stage added, this slightly out-stepping above a continuous moulded course and rising to a more elaborately moulded cornice course. From the latter project a pair of stone spouts on the S elevation, these suggesting a parapet detail is now missing. The point of the addition of the upper storey can be made out at just below the level of the moulded course to N, E and W. At the same time the existing stone turnpike stair at the NW angle of the present tower was built. Its insertion necessitated the blocking off of pre-existing openings and the opening up of a new entrance, at first floor level, into the tower interior. A similar entrance was newly formed at second floor level. The upper chamber was provided with windows to the E and S, and a fireplace in the N wall, this offset to the E and itself now blocked. That the provision of the turnpike and the remodelling of the tower was associated with wider works is demonstrated by the presence of a northwards returning wall stub emerging from the N side of the stair tower, just visible in the gap between it and the existing cottage. Here at ground and first floor levels exists the S jamb of early window openings, this perhaps of mid-late 16th century character. The windows reside within the southernmost part of what had evidently been a principal E-facing elevation of a range extending northwards from the tower.
- Later works: extensive repair on the exterior W side of the tower. The southern stub of the former gable wall saw considerable making-good, where early fabric was faced to form a buttress. At lower level the W side of the tower had been extensively re-faced, to the extent that the walling was realigned. The existing parapet level stones at the present wall head (the parapet itself had been reduced) seem likely to be in their correct relative positions but most were re-bedded in cement during an earlier episode of repair. It is not clear whether this occurred in preparation for the installation of the roof structure seen in an early photograph or as a consolidation exercise after its removal; perhaps the latter is more likely. (8)

NY 782 533. Ninebanks Tower, West Allen (Plenmeller with Whitfield PH) Scheduled No ND/288. (9a)

Listed by Cathcart King and Dodds. (9b-c)