Hepburn Bastle, Chillingham. Photo by Peter Ryder.


The barrel vaulted basement at Hepburn Bastle, Chillingham. Photo by Peter Ryder.

Although known as Hepburn Bastle, this is a medieval tower house of early 16th century date. Alterations were carried out in the later 16th and 17th centuries when other buildings were attached to it. It measures 16.6m by 10.8m and stands two storeys high, despite being a ruin. It has walls 2.7m thick at basement level. The building is first recorded in documents in 1509 and was only recorded as a tower in 1542. Some twenty years later it was called a mansion house. It seems to have been abandoned after 1755. This is a Scheduled Monument and a Grade II* Listed Building protected by law.