[MR] Bastle Houses in Scotland and England

[Garth Groff via Atlantia]

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots:

Yesterday I posted about Scottish blackhouses, and promised more on 
Scottish vernacular buildings. Today I'm going to ramble on a bit about 
bastle houses.

These were semi-fortified farm houses, and were found throughout 
southern Scotland and northern England. Most were built in the three 
border counties of Scotland and the corresponding three counties of 
northern England, and usually date to the 16th century. The border 
region between Scotland and England had long been a dangerous place to 
live, and raids in both direction across the border were a hazard to 
life and livelihood. The instability reached a peak during the 1500s 
when "riding families", clans from both sides of the border, raided each 
other, sometimes with small private armies of as many as 3,000 riders. 
These "border reivers" were particularly after cattle, plus horses, but 
would take any other livestock or household goods they could steal. 
Standing up to the raiders was usually fatal.

Bastle houses were attempts to make isolated farmsteads defensible. Each 
was a tiny stone castle. Usually a bastle house had a large cellar with 
a single door protected from above against breaking or burning by a 
"murder hole". The cellar, often only sunk part way into the ground, was 
where livestock were kept at night, or by day when danger loomed. 
Perched above the cellar was the main living space. Usually this had a 
single door which was reached by a ladder that could be drawn up inside. 
The door would be protected by arrow slits or gun loops on either side. 
There were usually no other windows. Often there was a well in the main 
floor, which must have been walled off from the basement. Sometimes 
there was a stone stairway between the cellar and the main floor, but 
this would have been a dangerous convenience if the cellar was breached. 
A loft under the rafters was used for sleeping space and storage. The 
roof was almost always stone to prevent the building from being set on 
fire. Sometimes in a small hamlet with several families, bastle houses 
would be sited to provide covering fields of fire.

Here is a Wikipedia site with images of several bastle houses: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastle_house . The Visit Northumberland 
web site has more photos (plus a lovely border collie guarding one) at 
http://blog.visitnorthumberland.com/2015/11/13/border-reivers-hunting-for-bastle-houses/ 
. One of the best preserved is Black Middens Bastle House, now managed 
by English Heritage: 
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/black-middens-bastle-house/history/ 
.

Quite a few bastle houses remain in both Scotland and England, some 
ruinous, some preserved, and some still in use as dwellings. A few have 
even been tarted up as bed-and-breakfast accommodations. In more 
peaceful times windows and stairways to the door were added to most of 
the survivors.

Next time, I'll talk about Scottish tower houses and English peel towers.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot