West side of Whitton Tower, Tosson. Photo by Peter Ryder.

[NU 05650104] Tower. (1)

Tower and a little barmkin at Whitton. (2)

Whitton: a small village on a high ground south of the river Coquet, in which is a tower belonging to the Rector of Rothbury. (3)

Mentioned in the 1415 survey as the 'turris de Whitton, iuxta Rothebery'. Described in the 1541 Survey as a tower and a little barmkin being the mansion of the parsonage of Rothbury and in good repair. (4)

The former rectory of Rothbury is a pele tower of the 14th century. It was repaired at the end of the 17th century, altered and enlarged in the 18th century, and almost completely rebuilt but for the more indestructible lower parts, by Rev C G V Harcourt, who also had built the modern east wing in Tudor style.
On the north side are the kitchen wing and extensive outbuildings round the 'lytle barmekin' of 1541.
The old tower measures externally 46 feet north to south, and 33 feet east to west, and is still about 60 feet high on the north side, but only 42 on the south side where the ground rises.
The entrance was near the west end of the north fron, where there is a small doorway, with a pointed head, and surrounding chamfer. Within is a lobby, from which it is almost certain a doorway led to a mural stair on the west side. An inner door leads into the vault, roofed by an unribbed pointed barrel roof running north and south, and pierced by a small square hatchway in its southern half. The ground floor has walls more than 9 feet thick, and a well 3 feet in diameter, said to be 15 feet deep.
The first floor is covered by a plain pointed barrel ceiling which may be modern. In the south east corner, a newel stair leads up to the roof. In the centre of the east wall of the second floor is a recess covered by an elliptical arch, interrupted at its south end by a modern passage to the east wing. In the south wall of the recess, which was no doubt part of the oratory, there is a piscina carved with oak leaves and having an ogee-headed fenestella.
The battlements are modern, and none of the external openings, apart from the entrance door, now within the kitchen wing, seem older than the 18th century. (5)

The tower seems evidently to be the work of the last half of the 14th century. Some sort of stone house may have been built on to the tower in the 17th century. The east wing was built after 1784, and rebuilt in Tudor style later.
The first floor stone vault may be accounted for by the fact of its being on ground level on the south side. The pointed inner door from the east side of the ground level still remains and near it the shouldered door that leads to the wheel stair. (6)

On the west front, a carved shield probably contains the arms of Alexander Cooke, Rector of Rothbury, 1435-1474, who probably restored the tower and built the upper stage in which the shield is inserted.
The piscina was discovered during alterations in 1871. The masonry throughout is massive, especially in the lower courses, where the quoins consist of huge blocks of sandstone; a rudely chamfered base runs around the whole building. About mid-way up the wall is another stage, above which the work appears to be of later date.
The tower stands near the summit of a ridge formed by one of the lower spurs of the Simonside range of hills, on the south bank of the Coquet, and commanding an extensive view up the valley to the west. (7)

The walls at the base are 11 feet thick, in the kitchen 9 feet, and towards the top 6 feet. Whitton tower was a few years ago acquired by Sir Angus Watson and turned into a children's hospital. (8)

The tower, correctly described by authorities (5)(6)(7) and (8) occupies the south-west corner of the building which in other respects appears to be entirely modern.
In excellent condition the tower forms part of the Ethel Watson Convalescent Home for Children (name plate on gate). (9)

Condition unchanged. No remains of the barmkin apparent. (10)

Whitton Tower, grade II* listed building. Tower house with attached house. Originally a vicar's pele and later the rectory. Now divided into two units. Tower is 14th century; attached house is 19th century. House in in Tudor style.
The tower walls are c.8ft thick; basement has pointed tunnel vault and well in the floor. Ground floor has a high pointed tunnel vault now divided into two rooms. (11)

The tower measures c.14m by 10m externally with its long axis north-south; the slope of the ground means that it rises to a height of 18.3m on the north but only 12.8m on the south. This unusual siting on a steep slope explains why there are in fact two basements, the lower entered more or less at the northern ground level and the upper at the southern.
Externally, the tower is constructed of good quality squared and tooled stone, laid in fairly regular courses. There is a marked change in character of the stonework to more regular and smaller blocks above a chamfered set-back midway up the present first floor. There is also a chamfered plinth at ground level on the south, continued at the same level along the west wall. The 19thcentury ashlar parapet has a square embattled bartizan at each corner and encloses a hip-ended roof.
BASEMENT:
The lower basement, 8.4m by 4.1m, is entered by a lobby at the east end of its north wall. This has two identical doorways, both facing outwards from the lobby, with two-centred arches, continuous chamfers and their heads formed from two inclined blocks, in the common regional manner. The lobby has a segmental vault; the positioning of the doorways has led to the suggestion that a mural stair rose from the lobby, but there is no visible evidence of this. The basement itself has a vault of rather irregular shape, springing from low walls and 3.5m high at the apex; near the south end is a central square trapdoor communicating with the floor above. A small area of the vault near the south east corner has been rebuilt in squared tooled stone, very like that of the vault of the basement of the mid 19th century range to the north of the tower; in this rebuilt masonry is a small channel, perhaps an air vent. In the south wall is an irregular patch of later masonry. Near the north end of the basement is a well, 0.9m in diameter and 4.4m deep when authority (6) wrote, but since then silted up a little.
GROUND FLOOR:
The ground floor is now entered both from the house onthe east, through a curving passage that may be relatively recent and from the added kitchen wing on the north. The original entry has been on the east, where it is now concealed externally. Internally, a two-centred doorway with a chamfered surround, retooled in the 19th century, gives access to a mural lobby with a segmental vault, very like that of the basement lobby. The outer doorway is now blocked up and only the rear face of its similar two-centred arch is visible. On the south is a shoulder-arched doorway opening on to the foot of the newel stair in the south east corner of the tower, which can also be reached by another shoulder-arched doorway, its dressings retooled, at the south east corner of the southern room. This room is lit by a mid 19th century bay window in the centre of the south wall.
At the north end of the northern room an inserted doorway, opening into the present kitchen, cuts away the sill of a splayed loop with a shallow four-centred rear arch; west of this is a recess with a projecting sill that may be old and east of it a shallower and rough recess higher up the wall that may be relatively recent. A window on the west side of the northern room looks like a late insertion (an area of inserted masonry around its external opening suggests that it may have been reduced in size at some time) and the bay window at the south end of the southern room is a mid 19th century piece.
The stair, lit by several small loops (those in the east wall now blocked) rises the full height of the tower, reducing in width as it rises; its exposed stonework bears a number of mason's marks.
FIRST FLOOR:
At first floor level the cross wall divides the tower into two principal bedrooms. A later passage alongside the east wall cuts through the cross wall and leads to an early 20th century stair cutting through the north wall, beneath an older window. In the east wall of the passage is a broad segmental-arched recess, now pierced by a doorway into the 19th century part of the house. This recess is thought to have been the rear arch of a window and, in 1871, a piscina was found in its southern jamb; this was later removed (it is not clear why or exactly when) and is now set into a garden wall at Whitton Grange. Authority (7) refers to a small recess nearby, 'which appears to have been a secret chamber in the thickness of the wall.
The three principal first floor windows, two inthe west wall and one in the south, are all 19th century in their present form; their sills cut down through the chamfered set-back and they have ogee-headed panels on their lintels. At the south end of the west wall and set a little above the set-back, is an old chamfered loop, now blocked and between the two western windows, just above the set-back, is a panel with a worn shield that has aroused some debate but is now thought to be that of the Umfravilles. Towards the north end of the same wall and set some courses below the set-back, is a damaged stone spout projecting from the wall.
SECOND FLOOR:
There is little internal evidence of medieval arrangements at second floor level; there are heavy plastered-over ceiling beams that may be of 17th century date, although the present partitions look more recent. The rather strange positioning of a window at the south end of the west wall of the northern bedroom seems to imply that this predates the cross wall, although externally the window looks like an insertion (perhaps of 18th century date). A smaller chamfered window
on the west side of the southern bedroom looks to be of medieval date, as is the estern of two windows in the south wall.
The newel stair now ends rather abruptly in the roof space; the present roof structure is clearly of 19th century date, although the central cross wall is carried up to the apex and pierced by a plain square headed doorway set east of centre; a set-back above and a section of straight-joint just under the apex of the roof, are not easy to interpret.
DISCUSSION:
This is an important and relatively well preserved medieval tower, although as often later alterations serve to obscure some points of its structural history. It would appear to have been a solitary tower and was probably built in the late 14th or early 15th century. The piscina at first floor level presumably indicates that there was a small chapel or oratory, contrived within a window recess. The piscina was removed in the 1920s to the garden wall of Whitton Grange, where it remains.
Unravelling the various post-medieval changes in the tower is not easy. Some authorities have suggested that the upper part of the tower, above the set-back, is a later rebuild; there is certainly a change in the character of the masonry. The cross wall may well be quite an early insertion, possibly even later medieval; the present internal divisions on the upper floors all seem to post-date this wall.
Hodgson's 1828 print shows the tower before its mid 19th century alterations. The southern parapet is shown stepped down at its centre, with a gabled cap-house set back behind. The roof of the adjacent house rose to the full height of that of the tower, although its eaves level was a little lower.
Considerable alterations were made to the tower during the 19th century, although authority (5)'s description of an 'almost complete rebuilding' which 'spared only the more indestructible lower parts of the old tower' is a considerable exaggeration.
(The dimensions quoted here are from authority (7)'s account and metricised, they do not tally with the floor plans supplied by the owner). (12)

A Heritage Statement was carried out by JGS Consulting Ltd for the Rectory, Whitton Tower, Morpeth which included a detailed photograohic record of the internal and external works. (13)

Whitton Tower, Listed. For the designation record of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. (14a-b)

1386 Pele tower built in Whitton by Sir Thomas De Umfraville, Lord of Harbottle
By 1415 it was in the hands of the rector and continued as the residence of the Rector of Rothbury until 1934.
1830 the east Wing was added, (this is now (2014) called `The Rectory').
Cllr Angus Watson purchased the land and properties called Whitton Tower from the church having already acquired the vicarage glebe land and nearby Whitton Grange. He leased Whitton Tower to Newcastle City Council for a children's convalescent home. It continued to be the `Ethel Watson children's Convalescent Home' until 1983. The property was then sold to the Del-Greco family. Now privately owned residences. (14c)

Whitton Tower (Formerly Rothbury Rectory). Grade II*. An important and early specimen of a parson's tower, unusual in having two floors covered by barrel vaults, (there is a doubt as to the genuineness of the upper one), C14 repaired late C17, altered and enlarged C18, enlarged and reconstructed early C19, internally altered 1871, 1894 and after sale to Sir Angus Watson who let it to Newcastle Corporation for a children's home, in 1937. Would have been grade I if less altered. (14d)