Bastle house
Appearance
Bastel, bastle,".
Characteristics
The characteristics of the classic bastle house are extremely thick
arrow slits
.
Bastle houses have many characteristics in common with military blockhouses, the main difference being that a bastle was intended primarily as a family dwelling, instead of a pure fortification.
Many bastle houses survive today; their construction ensured that they would last a very long time, but most are either ruined or much altered for use as residences or farm buildings. They may be seen on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border.[citation needed] Some well-preserved examples are Thropton Pele, Hole Bastle, Woodhouses Bastle and Black Middens Bastle.
See also
- Architecture in early modern Scotland#Vernacular architecture (section)
- Bastille
- La Haye Sainte
- Peel tower
- Scottish Vernacular
- Tower house
- Tower houses in Britain and Ireland
- Vernacular architecture
References
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009. Bastel-house. "A fortified farmhouse of a type chiefly found in northern England close to the Scottish border, typically built in the 16th or early 17th cent. as a defence against raiders, and having a vaulted ground floor used for storage and livestock, the main living area being on the upper floor and reached by means of an external staircase or ladder."
- ^ Brunskill, R. W.. Houses and cottages of Britain: origins and development of traditional buildings. Great Britain: Victor Gollancz in association with Peter Crawley, 1997. 28-29. Print.
Bibliography
- Herman Gabriel Ramm, R. W. McDowall, Eric Mercer (1970) 'Shielings and Bastles.HMSO: London.
- Davison, Andrew; Jessop, Lucy; Whitfield, Matthew (2013). Alston Moor, Cumbria. ISBN 9781848021174.