Cresswell Pele Tower

Cresswell Tower, a 15th century stone-built pele tower, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, a Grade II* Listed Building and it is also on Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ Register. Pele towers are peculiar to Northumberland, Cumbria and the Scottish Borders and are miniature castles built in response to raids by the Border Reivers. Cresswell Pele Tower is a relatively well preserved but roofless structure and is the only surviving structure of the Medieval seat of the Cresswell family. In the mid 18th century it became part of a mansion house. This house itself was demolished in the 19th century and by the late 1960s the tower was derelict.

The tower has been the focal point of the village for over 500 years, but it is inaccessible in its current state. The wish of the local community is for the tower to be restored and made accessible so that it can become a valued and appreciated heritage asset for current and future generations. In 2014 Cresswell Parish Council was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund Start Up Grant to carry out preliminary work on the tower. This work inspired the council to seek funding to fully restore, interpret and open the tower while using the opportunity to broaden community involvement, including local schools, through a community archaeology and archive project.

The 2-week long excavations carried out around Cresswell Pele Tower, Northumberland, at the beginning of February were a great success. One of the evaluation trenches that was excavated in Fisheries Field to the east of the tower unearthed two, early Bronze Age stone-built burial cist boxes. Unfortunately no human remains had survived due to the acidity of the soil however this is a very exciting find.

Trenches around the tower itself revealed evidence of the 18th century mansion house that was known to have been added on to the tower but that was demolished around 100 years later. Evidence of an earlier, previously unknown about building were also found as well as a small, stone-filled pit that produced chipped flint artefacts. A much larger, stone-filled pit was also revealed, the purpose of which remains unknown.

A report on the results of the excavations was published in Archaeologia Aeliana 5^th series, volume 50 for 2021 (pages 183-227).

Please click here for more information on the Cresswell Pele Tower Project.

Downloads:

	Geophysical Survey at Cresswell Tower, Cresswell, Northumberland
	Cresswell Pele Tower Community Archaeology Project Fieldwalking
	Cresswell Pele Tower Community Archaeology Project. Evaluation Trenching