Vicar's Pele Tower, Corbridge (Copyright © Don Brownlow)

(NY 9884 6441) Vicar's Pele. (1)

The tower is mentioned as the Vicar's property in the list of fortalices drawn up for Henry V in 1415. There is no record of its erection, but it is of c.1300 style, all of one date and well-constructed of sandstone, being rectangular in plan, measuring 27ft 4ins east-west and 21ft north-south. The height to the parapet walk is 30ft. The building comprises a vaulted basement and two upper storeys; the entrance doorway is in the east side at ground level. [See Illustration Card]. (2)

Many of the stones in the tower have cramp holes and have been obtained from the Roman station at Corstopitum. (3)

The pele is in good condition - See Illustration. (4)

No change. (5)

Grade I. Vicar's Pele Tower-house of c.1300, built of Roman stones. Square tower with pointed arched doorway on east side (tunnel vault inside), small loop lights, angle turrets. Gabled roof added. A.M. (6)

A very good and complete specimen of a small Pele Tower. The roof is modern and the interior has been gutted but the stonework is in good condition. (7)

Corbridge Vicar's Tower. Built c.AD1300 of Roman stones. Listed in 1415 and Clarke's survey of 1663. External dimensions are 27ft 4ins east-west by 21ft x 30ft to parapet walk, plus 5ft to top of parapet. Square bartizans corbelled from corners had machicolations. Stands across the line of the churchyard wall. (8)

NY 988 644. Vicar's Tower. In list of 1415. Built from Roman stones. (9)

Lower part of 11th century grave slab in Pele Tower. 355mm high x 440mm wide x 150mm deep. A fragment showing a double-incised base and stem of a cross remains. (10)

Roman gravestone seen in the Vicar's Pele Tower in 1907 by Haverfield. Now lost. RIB 1176. Inscription reads: D(is) (M(anibus)) / (Ti(beri).../Pa... 2nd/3rd century AD. (11)

The tower is mentioned in the 1415 list; it seems to have been abandoned in the 17th or 18th century and was a roofless ruin when restored and re-roofed by the Duke of Northumberland.
The tower is a rectangular structure of three storeys, 8.3m by 6.4m externally, being constructed of large well-squared blocks, in a large part reused Roman material.
The entrance doorway is set towards the north end of the east wall and is a two-centred archway with a continuous chamfer, the head being formed of two inclined slabs; there is a drawbar tunnel in the south jamb and the doorway is formed of planks bolted into an iron grille, very similar to a door at Bywell Castle (NZ 06 SW 9). Inside is a small lobby, with a second similar arch in front, opening into the basement, whilst on the left (south) is the foot of the mural stair.
The basement is covered by an east-west barrel vault of roughly semicircular section; there is a splayed loop at floor level on the south, and a second loop at a higher level, just beneath the vault, in the west end. The walls and vault are heavily mortared and whitewashed. There are two rough cut-outs in the haunch of the vault, 2.5m above the floor, set roughly opposite each other towards the east end.
The mural stair rises under a series of lintels, some of which are reused cross slab grave covers; other grave covers are reused as the internal; lintels of windows, and above the upper mural stair. There is a small lobby in the south east corner of the tower, lit by a small loop on the south, and then three further stairs to a lobby in the thickness of the south wall; this is provided with a recess containing a stone bowl or slopstone in a recess lit by a small loop above a drain. From the lobby another two-centred doorway opens into the first floor of the tower.
The first floor is provided with a square-headed fireplace on the north, with a moulded surround, somewhat damaged. To the west of the fireplace is a trefoil-headed single-light window with a shouldered rear arch and stone window seats; there is a similar window on the south, with a plain rear arch, with a smaller square-headed loop to the west of it. In the west wall are two stone cupboards. The east wall has another two-centred doorway at its north end, giving access to the upper mural stair.
The second floor has been carried on timbers, supported by an off-set on the south wall and a plate carried by a series of corbels (most of which have been removed) on the north.
The upper mural stair has a stair foot lobby with a loop on the east and a garderobe to the north; the stair rises to a second floor lobby, lit by another loop in the east wall, with another arched doorway of the usual type giving access to the second floor, now removed except for a platform at the east end.
The second floor is lit by a pair of square-headed loops near the centre of the north and south walls, and a similar light at the north end of the west wall; adjacent to this, but in the north wall, is a recess with a sloping back, evidently a reading desk which utilised the light from the loop. Part of the internal face of the east wall has been rebuilt; Knowles suggests that there may have been an original access to the parapet in this area.
The present roof structure dates to the 1910 restoration, and is carried by corbels on the north and south walls; the central three corbels on each side carry principal rafter trusses with curved struts, whilst those against the end walls are no longer used. There is a moulded string, pierced for drainage spouts, at the base of the parapet. The parapet is ruinous, being best preserved on the south where the jambs of the merlins have sinking for hanging shutters; at each angle has been a square bartizan, of which little more remains than its corbelling.
This is without doubt the best example of a vicar's tower in the county, and remains in remarkably unaltered condition. Knowle's states that 'its architectural features clearly indicate that it was built c.1300', but it is probably of mid 14th century date; one clue to the dating is the reuse of a cross slab over the smaller of the two southern first floor windows, bearing a cross of almost identical form to that of the late 13th century slab to Lady Alice of Tynedale, in the south transept of the church.
Whilst the 1910 restoration may have removed evidence of post-medieval phases (a late fireplace was removed from the basement), the tower remains in a remarkable state of preservation. At the time of writing the basement, until recently utilised as an Information Centre, is used as a store, whilst the first floor is a museum of sorts, housing a collection of carved stones and grave covers. (12)

The only pele tower used as a vicarage which stands within a churchyard. A survey of 1663 describes it as 'a tower scituate on ye churchyard wall, to ye south-east of ye church, said to have been antiently ye lord's goale, but now is ye place where ye lord's court is usually kept, but ye roof is in much decay'. The tower is a good example of a small pele showing domestic arrangements. (13)(14)

A test pit excavated in the south-west corner of the ground floor by Northern Counties Archaeological Services during May 2014 revealed that the existing, paved, floor overlies a post-medieval demolition rubble layer used to raise the floor level. The small test pit revealed that the stone walls of the pele are located within a foundation trench (of unknown depth) and a possible vertical joint in the inner face of the wester wall suggesting the pele is of more than one phase of construction. No internal offset or foundation raft was observed. A 0.52m thick layer of possibly imported demolition debris was partly excavated which appears to have been used to raise a possible floor level of cobbles (which includes a possible cup marked stone). This deposit contained a range of finds including roof flags, with animal bones used as slate pegs, a partial horse carcass, hand moulded brick, clay tobacco pipe, bottle glass in turn overlain by a further demolition layer with roof flags and sheep bones used to hang the flags and pottery sherds sometime in the early 19th century before bedding layers for the present floor, of the early 20th century restoration of the tower, of thin sandstone paving slabs. (15)

Scheduled. (16)

NY 987 644. Vicar's pele tower. Scheduled No ND/77. (17a)

Listed by Cathcart King and Dodds. (17b-c)

Full description of the Saxo-Norman cross in the pele tower, and the grave slab, formerly in the tower, now in the adjacent church. (17d)