Pele Tower on East Return of Pockerley Farmhouse
PELE TOWER ON EAST RETURN OF POCKERLEY FARMHOUSE, HAMMER SQUARE BANK
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1159269
- Date first listed:
- 23-Feb-1987
- List Entry Name:
- Pele Tower on East Return of Pockerley Farmhouse
- Statutory Address:
- PELE TOWER ON EAST RETURN OF POCKERLEY FARMHOUSE, HAMMER SQUARE BANK
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
| Buildings |
| Scheduled monuments |
| Parks and gardens |
| Battlefields |
| Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2000-06-13
- Reference:
- IOE01/02337/10
- Rights:
- © Mr Bob Cottrell. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1159269
- Date first listed:
- 23-Feb-1987
- List Entry Name:
- Pele Tower on East Return of Pockerley Farmhouse
- Statutory Address 1:
- PELE TOWER ON EAST RETURN OF POCKERLEY FARMHOUSE, HAMMER SQUARE BANK
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- PELE TOWER ON EAST RETURN OF POCKERLEY FARMHOUSE, HAMMER SQUARE BANK
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- County Durham (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Urpeth
- National Grid Reference:
- NZ2224354556
Details
NZ 25 SW,
3/62
URPETH,
HAMMER SQUARE BANK (North side, off),
Pele tower on east return of Pockerley Farmhouse
GV
II*
Pele tower. Probably C15 with later alterations and additions. Coursed rubble
with large stones inlower courses; Welsh slate roof. Rectangular plan: 10.3
metres long and 7.3 metres wide.
Two storeys. Raised east gable end has large, roughly-squared quoins, wide
segmental relieving arch below gable and two later battered buttresses with C20
casement between. South wall has fragment of plinth, similar masonry and a
late C19 first-floor sash. North wall, hidden by added narrow outshut, had a
blocked 2-light window, with arched heads and hoodmould, on first floor (window
may still be behind outshut). West gable end hidden by adjoining farmhouse
(q.v.). Steeply-pitched roof with coped east gable.
Interior entered via doorway in barn on south. Walls 1.6-metres thick on ground
floor and 1.2-metres thick above. Passage with 2 openings on north: roughly-
arched opening to mural stairway inside east gable; chamfered round-arched
doorway into stone barrel-vaulted chamber with blocked splayed loop at west.
Mural stairway to first-floor square-headed doorway. Subdivided upper chamber
has 3 cambered ceiling beams of heavy scantling. Main room has wide chamfered
fireplace and 2 blocked windows behind cupboards on north wall. Small chamber
beyond lath and plaster partition has blocked window with rough shouldered rear
arch.
Partly reconstructed roof retains many original timbers of heavy scantling with
wood pegged joints. 3 similar principal trusses: jowled king posts on tie
beams have arched braces to ridge piece; principal rafters halved into re-used
cambered collars which are halved into the king posts. 2 intermediate trusses
with principals bedded into wall.
A rare though altered example of a pele-tower in County Durham which appears to
retain a largely original roof structure.
Listing NGR: NZ2224354556
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 109406
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 04-Jun-2026 at 11:17:58.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.