Out of the Blue: Cockle Park Tower

© Neville Young and licensed for reuse

under this Creative Commons Licence.

Just when you begin to think of yourself as a bit of an 'expert' as regards the history of your particular patch of the country, up pops another little unknown nugget to knock you down a peg or two. Whilst casually exploring the back roads of our new home near Morpeth the other day, my wife and I drove past this beauty a couple of miles or so north of the town. I didn't have time to stop and get a photo, so nicked the above image from Wikipedia.

I'm sorry to say that I didn't even know Cockle Park Tower existed! And it must be, I reckon, the best-looking (and best-preserved) pele tower in the whole of the North-East. I mean, just look at it. Magnificent! It was one of those famous defensive creations of the sixteenth century, when the threat from the Scots to the north still dominated the thoughts and minds of well-to-do families with plenty to lose.

Those who lived in the border lands at this troubled time were always looking for ways to protect themselves and their possessions from bad-tempered Scotsmen, feuding border reivers and marauding mosstroopers. Fairly well-off families built bastles, and the ranks above them built pele towers. The Cockle Park affair was built by Sir William Ogle, the 4th lord of his line, and dates originally, we think, to around 1520 - ostensibly as a 'hunting lodge', but clearly also built for defence. As you can see, it has three stories (plus an attic), and is topped by what are described as "corbelled-out bartizans, with machicolation between" - a clear indication of the builders' defensive intentions.

It has been altered plenty over the centuries, of course; and after the Unification of the Crowns in 1603, it gradually softened its look and feel as the threat from the dark corners of the region began to subside. The female Ogle line married into the Cavendish family, who themselves became the Dukes of Portland. When the old Ogle property of Bothal Castle was being renovated in the 1800s many of the fitting of the tower were transferred there.

It survived for many years as a simple farmhouse, though it had its periods of decline and neglect. Interestingly, the farm as a whole (tower included) was utilised by the Duke of Portland as long ago as the 1820s as a ground-breaking experimental farm, which, coincidentally, it still operates as today, under the guidance of Newcastle University.

Anyway, that's the gist of it. More can be found at the Fabulous North website, and there is much interesting detail to be found in Issue 21 (2014) of Archaeology in Northumberland (in an article compiled during its recent renovation).