Introduction : Territories And Townships

Harbottle, in the medieval period lay at the heart of seigneurial landscape designed to ensure the efficient exploitation of the lordship, comprising elements such as the castle, a deer park, the borough of Harbottle and the demesne manor of Shirmundesden (or Shermington), which can still be reconstructed from surviving features and documentary evidence.

The post medieval township of Harbottle essentially represents the extent of the medieval borough and its associated common. This explains why it excludes the castle site - the most substantial medieval monument in the present village - which instead falls within the township of Peels on the north side of Harbottle.

Peels originated as the demesne of the Umfraville lords, comprising the castle with the adjacent haughs, the park and the manor of Shirmondeden, which was held directly. In a broader sense however the territory associated with the medieval monuments at Harbottle comprised the entire franchise of Redesdale, of which Harbottle Castle was the caput.