Hethpool : Potential For Further Research

The potential of the College Valley for the study of Northumberland in Prehistory and the Roman Iron Age, due to extent and preservation of its archaeological monuments needs no emphasis. It will doubtless figure in period focussed research strategies and in the Regional Research Agenda.

The evidence of the medieval documents suggests that Hethpool was a significantly larger settlement in the medieval period than it is today. This is supported by the extensive traces of cultivation on the adjacent hillsides. By the time of the earliest map evidence, Hethpool had already shrunk and only through archaeological fieldwork will it be possible to determine the precise limits of the settlement.

One key component, the chapel, is unlocated. Its life may well have been relatively short due to the onset of the Anglo-Scottish wars.

The surviving remains of Hethpool Tower appear to be those of a small tower house. They are difficult to interpret, both because of their relatively poor preservation and due to the dense covering of ivy, however the documentary and cartographic evidence suggests there was a certainly a tower of some kind in the 15th and 16th centuries, and perhaps an attached stone house, although the small size of the tower may have led to some confusion in the terminology used to describe the building, particularly in Bowes and Ellerker's Border survey of 1541.

Picture : Bridge over College Burn