More information : (NY 72408739) Pele at Falstone. (1)
The house of Mr Robson, the present (1825) laird of Falstone, is a "peel house". Access to the upper floor, where the family lodged, was by trap door. The lower apartment for the cattle, had a door secured by a large "oaken bolt". (2)
Above the door of the old pele to the south of the church at Falstone is the inscription "ABCDEFG 1604 HK" (3)
The old door of the pele is on the SE side where there is a later
addition. (4)
The peel of Falstone farm is of two storeys, gabled, and has walls 1.6m thick. It is now incorporated in the farm house. The original entrance in the SE wall is retained as an internal doorway, and still has above it the inscription referred to by Authority 3. The letters 'H' & 'K', following the date are much larger than those preceeding it, and may be the initials of the builder. No traces remain of the bolt-holes for the 'oaken bolt' referred to by Authority 2. The barrel vaulted lower apartment has been converted into a living room and the trap door which was the only access to the upper chamber has been blocked up leaving no trace of its former position. Access is now provided by a doorway from the second floor of the later apartments.
The peel is situted on the SW facing slope of a hill and within a bend in the Falstone Burn. The near bank of the burn being steep and approximately 2 1/2m deep provided natural protection to the SW side; the burn would also have been a convenient source of water. To the S and W the peel commands a wide view of the valley of the river North Tyne, but is itself overlooked by higher ground from the N and NE. Its vulnerability from those directions, however, would have been somewhat reduced by the gentleness of the slopes for the first hundred metres or so from the peel. (5)
Condition unchanged. (6)
NY 725875 Farmhouse incorporating bastle.
(See Type - site NY 88 SE 14) (7)
As described. The remains of this bastle are incorporated
in Falstone Farm at NY 72398738. (8)
Falstone Farm. Listed Grade II. (9)
Listed by Cathcart King and by Dodds. (10,11) |