Mary Emma1
Northumberland, Nine Dargue bastle ruins near Allendale
Ruins of a classic bastle house, unique to the border region and Northumberland
A bastle house was a fortified farmhouse built to defend the family and their animals from raids by the reivers.
It is simple in design. The ground floor was for the animals and the first floor for people. There would typically be no latrines and just a fireplace at one end. Access to the first floor was usually through a ladder and trapdoor within the byre below. Bastle houses were often built within sight of each other, basically to help provide early warning of raids.
Its name of Nine Dargue signifies the amount of land that could be tilled in nine days,
Northumberland, Nine Dargue bastle ruins near Allendale
Ruins of a classic bastle house, unique to the border region and Northumberland
A bastle house was a fortified farmhouse built to defend the family and their animals from raids by the reivers.
It is simple in design. The ground floor was for the animals and the first floor for people. There would typically be no latrines and just a fireplace at one end. Access to the first floor was usually through a ladder and trapdoor within the byre below. Bastle houses were often built within sight of each other, basically to help provide early warning of raids.
Its name of Nine Dargue signifies the amount of land that could be tilled in nine days,