Peel tower

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Smailholm Tower , Scottish Borders
Preston Pele Tower , Northumberland

Peel tower (also Pele tower ) is the name given to a special type of construction of buildings, which are mainly to be found on both sides along the English-Scottish border in areas that had to suffer in earlier times from raids by the Border Reivers . Their shape is reminiscent of early medieval keep, they are also considered the forerunners of the Tower Houses .

The name is derived from the Latin word “pilum”, but here means “post” or “sharpened rod”.

description

Traces of the forerunners can be traced back to prehistoric times. Gates for cattle made from scrub were replaced over time by walls made of field stones, turf and clay, which were then reinforced with sharpened wooden stakes. These fortified areas, usually also protected by an outer ditch, were called "piles", "pales" or "pele". At the beginning of the 12th century, residential towers were increasingly built within these fortifications; first made of wood and clay, but from the end of the 13th century more and more of stone.

Scottish peel towers were mostly square with a side length of ten to twelve meters, and were built from mostly unprocessed field stones. Their wall thicknesses could be up to two meters, and they were usually three stories high. The bottom floor consisted of one or two vaulted cellars as storage space and stables for the cattle; without passage to the floors above. Access to the upper floors was via an outside ladder or narrow wooden stairs, the gate often consisted of two or three interconnected doors and various locks. The two upper floors each had a room and were connected by a narrow spiral staircase. Windows, if any, were small on the top floor and locked with massive shutters, but only designed as loopholes on the lower floor . The roof was covered with slate or other large stone slabs.

The English peel towers were mostly rectangular and much larger; with a height of up to six floors, dimensions of 16 m × 18 m could be achieved. The walls were up to three meters thick; otherwise the internal structure was similar to that of the Scottish Peel tower. Outwardly, however, differences could be seen, here finely-hewn stones were often used, and additional defensive facilities, such as military keepers , were also installed on the top floor .

The typical peel tower was not built by the nobility, but by landowners, the lairds . They can therefore only be found in smaller settlement areas. Due to their size, they were not permanently inhabited, but served as a refuge in acute danger. However, this was not their only purpose: the rows of towers on both sides of the border as well as a decree of the Scottish Parliament from 1455, which required a fire basket on the top of the tower to alert the neighbors with smoke during the day and fire at night , made it an effective advance warning facility on the English and Scottish sides.

Following the example of the Peel tower, the common people built the Bastle houses in remote areas .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Johnson, 1978 , p. 166
  2. ↑ a b Johnson, 1978 , p. 167

literature

  • Brunskill, RW: Houses and Cottages of Britain: Origins and Development of Traditional Buildings . University Press, Yale, 2006.
  • Durham, Keith; McBride, Angus: The Border Reivers: The story of the Anglo-Scottish borderlands . Osprey Publishing, 1995. ISBN 1-85532-417-2
  • Johnson, Paul: The National Trust Book of British Castles . Book Club Associates, London, 1978.
  • Ram; McDowall; Mercer: Shielings and bastles . HMSO, London, 1970.

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