Description

NY 75 SE WEST ALLEN NINEBANKS (West side)

14/242 Ninebanks Tower, adjacent
to the south end of
Ninebanks Post Office
II*

Tower, built onto east gable of earlier manor house in early C16, heightened
and stair turret added later C16. Rubble with stone dressings, later C16
work more massive rubble. Roughly square in plan. 4 storeys; rectangular
stair turret at west end of north face. Elevation to street (east): blocked
rectangular chamfered loop just above ground level with small inserted window
over, 1st floor window formerly of 2 lights, monolithic head with 2-centred
arches, 2nd-floor rectangular chamfered window with a pair of raised inverted
shields on the lintel. Weathering of a pitched roof or gablet above. Hollow-
chamfered course carries oversailing 3rd floor with a pair of rectangular
windows one above the other, and a corbelled cornice which formerly supported
a parapet. Stair turret has 3 chamfered loops. Right return has blocked
Tudor-arched door partly concealed by the stair turret, and a rectangular
chamfered lst-floor loop. Left return has chamfered loops to the 1st and
3rd floors and a small slit to the 2nd. 2 stone spouts project from the moulded
parapet. To the left a buttress-like projection is part of the earlier house.
Rear elevation shows inserted door and much patching; several doorways with
chamfered surrounds, some blocked, in stair turret. To left of turret one jamb
of a ground-floor window of the former north range.

Interior; at 1st and 2nd floor levels doorways with monolithic Tudor-arched
heads, now blocked; to right of the 2nd-floor door is a blocked chamfered
window, looking into the tower, i.e. part of the gable of the earlier manor
house. At 3rd floor level the remains of a fireplace. Lower section of stair
turret now infilled; upper part retains its stone newel stair, with near the
top a circular gunloop on the north.

The heraldry on the tower, now defaced, is thought to relate to Sir Thomas
Dacre, ruler of Hexhamshire 1515-1526.

Dickinson G., 'Historical Notices of the 2 Parishes of Allendale and Whitfield'
(1903) p 28 et seq.

Listing NGR: NY7820453201

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546701

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)