The Three Towers

The three towers were part of the historic manor of Beetham, and they are three of only four sites in the Arnside and Silverdale AONB with substantial stone built remains of medieval domestic buildings.

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Arnside Tower from the west © Adam Donaldson

The use of the term "tower" is a little misleading, as only Arnside Tower is a true tower house.

Beetham Hall is a fortified manor house with a hall and solar wing.

Hazelslack now stands as a tower-like building but was originally probably part of a larger hall, the foundation outline of which can still be seen at ground level.

The remaining example is the late 13th - early 14th century Warton Old Rectory near Carnforth in Lancashire. The Old Rectory is a rare surviving example of a large medieval stone dwelling-house. It was not only a home for the rector of the local church, but was also a manor where courts were held.

 

 

Arnside Tower

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Arnside tower and kiln

This substantial tower is a situated between the higher ground of Arnside Knott to the northwest and Middlebarrow to the southeast and is some 2km south of Arnside village, overlooking Arnside Tower Farm.

It is of more Scottish than English design so is a rarity in Cumbria. The ground floor was divided in two with a kitchen on the north side, providing evidence that Arnside Tower was not constructed as a peel tower.

Further signs that the tower was not built for defence are the relatively thin walls, large windows and its weak location, being overlooked by higher grounds.

There are many questions as to when and why the Tower were built, and various suggestions have been made over the years to provide a clearer picture of this historic building.

Theories regarding who built it range from the sisters of Thomas de Thweng building it in c1375 along with Dallam and Hazelslack Towers; to Thomas de Middleton late in the fifteenth century, who may have built it as a hunting lodge. However, the first specific reference to the tower itself would appear to be in an inquisition taken at the death of Thomas Middleton in 1517.

The Tower has been damaged on several occasions, firstly in 1602 when there was a fire then between 1684 and 1690 it is recorded as having been without a roof. In 1770 it was reported that the shell of the Tower was complete and that it was possible to walk around at the top within the “Kernell’d battlements”. In 1884, a severe gale caused serious damage and the south corner and southwest wall were blown down.

 

 

Beetham Hall

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Beetham Hall (solar tower in centre)

This fortified Manor house is one of the best-known and best-preserved fortified houses of Cumbria.

It is situated in farmed parkland on the west side of the A6, 0.5km to the south of the village of Beetham.

From around 1200 until the end of the 1480s it was in the possession of the de Bethum family and then passed to the Middleton family following a siege during the Wars of the Roses  and then on again to the Earl of Derby.
A survey carried out in 1254, referred to ‘the Hall of Bethum with other houses within the court’, and in 1347 Ralph de Bethum III was ordered to send prisoners confined in his ‘castle’ to the Tower of London. This implies some form of defensible enclosure, and it seems the principal defensive element is an enclosing curtain wall. More recent survey work in 1995 found evidence of an in-filled moat or ditch to the south of the site.

 

 

Hazelslack Tower

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Hazelslack Tower, Storth

Hazelslack Tower, now a roofless ruin, stands c2km east of Arnside, on the crest of a small limestone escarpment dropping away to the west, adjoining more modern houses and farm buildings.

Unlike the other two towers, there is no information regarding the early history of the site available in easily accessible or secondary historical sources.

Local legend ascribes it to one of three co-heiresses of Thomas de Thweng (c1375). Some researchers have dismissed this as ‘manifestly incredible’, although these sister are suggested as possible builders of Arnside Tower too.
Dating from the fourteenth or fifteenth century, the tower has one vaulted basement chamber but with thin walls for a building of this size, it was a defensible retreat at best, equipped with drawbar tunnels. Originally, the building extended to the east, probably the hall with the tower as the kitchen.

 

 

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