Witton-le-Wear, Witton Tower; Medieval tower house. (Witton-le-Wear)

Witton Tower is an extensive mansion which includes a Medieval tower house, a chapel and an intermediate dwelling. Before the later 19th century is was better known as Witton Tower. There are a number of modern extensions.

The house, for some years a hotel, was extensively remodelled in the later 1990s and again in 2005/6, when it and the attached farm building group were being converted into a series of separate dwelling units.

The house is quite large, and made up of a number of components. In the centre is the tower itself, a north-south block, roughly twice as long as it is wide; its southern half is three storeys high and the northern half rises further a half-storey. Projecting eastward from this block, but set back a little northwards, is the three-bay three-storey east wing, with a block behind infilling the space between it and a parallel wing (the north-east wing). On the opposite (west) side of the centre block, similarly set back, is the two-storey two-bay west wing, continued by the lower but still two-storeyed L-plan chapel wing (now outbuildings) which angles (at rather less than a right angle) to the south.

The chapel appears to be the earliest part of the structure, and contains in its south gable end a Norman window - a narrow, round-headed aperture of C12 date, situated above a restored Early English window. However, there is the possibility that the chapel is later and is a gothic C18th invention, using possibly the material from a chapel from Witton Castle which was demolished sometime in the 18th century. The remains of C16 hood-moulds and mullions may be seen in the tower and dwelling-house. The roofs are of stone flags and Welsh slate, with stone and brick chimneys.

This is a complex house, and of considerable interest, which many different phases of alterations and development. The building is a Grade II Listed Building.

Reference number: D1763
Historical period: Medieval (1066 to 1540)
Legal status: Listed Building

See also:
Local History of Witton-le-Wear
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Witton-le-Wear, Witton Tower © Ryder, P 2006

Witton-le-Wear, Tower © Ryder, P 2006

Disclaimer - Please note that this information has been compiled from a number of different sources. Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council can accept no responsibility for any inaccuracy contained therein. If you wish to use/copy any of the images, please ensure that you read the Copyright information provided.

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