Harbottle : Peels/Shirmundesden

On the north side of the Coquet east of Harbottle Park was the farm complex of Peels, all that remains of the shrunken medieval settlement of Shirmondesden. The township and manor of Shirmundesden was a member of the barony of Alnwick and one of the ten towns of Coquetdale held by the Umfravilles from the Vesci overlords.

The importance of this manor in completeing the seigneurial landscape around Harbottle lies in the fact that it formed part of the Umfraville's demesne, i.e. it was held by them directly, rather than being bestowed on subordinate baronial, gentry or ecclesiastical tenants (subinfeudation). The selection of this manor was presumably due to its proximity to Harbottle Castle and it was already fulfilling that function by 1325 (IPM) and probably even earlier. The settlement at Harbottle itself could not of course fulfill that function because of its burghal status. By the end of the medieval period the settlement had declined to a single farm, Peels. The 1604 survey itemised the demesne lands on the north side of the Coquet as follows (1604 Survey, 105; see Selected Sources and Surveys):

• The easte parte conteyneth, being of the park, 200 acres
• Shermington, sometymes a towneshippe, 820 acres
• Only one freeholder, the miller John Wainebye, and no customary tenants were recorded at 'The Peale' (op. cit.,).

Substantial earthworks appear directly in front of the present buildings at the hamlet, with more extensive earthworks surviving, despite having been ploughed in recent times, on grassland to the north, between the river and present hamlet. Dividing these earthworks from the hamlet is a road and linear depression which may be the remains of a hollow-way or part of a palaeo-channel, or even a mill race. The remains of a water-mill were situated at the east end of the hamlet.