Horsley Tower and Adjacent Outbuilding is a Grade II* listed building in the Northumberland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 30 January 1986. Towerhouse.

Horsley Tower and Adjacent Outbuilding

WRENN ID
slow-iron-equinox
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Northumberland
Constituency
Hexham MP: Joe Morris (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
30 January 1986
Type
Towerhouse
Address
Horsley Tower and Adjacent Outbuilding, Longhorsley
OS grid reference
NZ 146 946
Coordinates
55.24579, -1.77153
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Horsley Tower and the adjacent outbuilding is a Grade II* listed tower house, likely built in the early 16th century, with a north wing added in the mid-17th century and some restoration around 1930. The structure is made of coursed squared stone with dressings and features a slate roof, except for pantiles on the outbuilding. The building is L-shaped, with the south front rising four storeys and displaying irregular fenestration. The original square-headed chamfered doorway has been blocked, and a 20th-century window has been inserted. To the left, there is a 20th-century door. Above the blocked doorway, a three-light window and a pair of two-light windows on the second floor are from the 20th century, except for the hoodmould of the former. Most other windows are older, some featuring hoodmoulds, and there are narrow loop windows to the right for a newel stair. The tower is topped with a crenellated parapet above a cut-back string course, and a stair turret that rises slightly higher, leading to a hipped roof. The one-storey outbuilding to the left has a lean-to roof with crow-stepped coping.

The west elevation of the wing has three storeys and two narrow bays. The projecting right bay features an external stair leading to a first-floor door, while the left bay has a boarded door within a moulded flat-pointed surround. Above, there are paired eight-pane sash windows in an architrave. The right return displays varied fenestration, including an old barred four-pane casement, with windows in architraves to the right. The rear elevation shows the gable end of the wing with an irregular projecting stack and a second-floor two-light window in a raised moulded surround to the right.

Inside, the ground floor has a barrel-vaulted ceiling with separate vaulted chambers to the east and a former entrance lobby on the south leading to a stone newel stair at the southeast angle. The first floor features an original fireplace with a lintel supported by moulded corbels and a segmental relieving arch above, along with chamfered segmental rear arches to some windows. The second floor is adorned with early 18th-century panelling.

The tower was built by the Horsley family and passed to the Widdringtons around 1685, then to the Riddells around 1763. These Roman Catholic families converted the top floor into a chapel, which remained in use until the current Catholic Church was built in 1841.

Local climate

Horsley Tower and Adjacent Outbuilding receives an average of 830 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 53% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 99% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 59% of listed buildings. Of these, 20 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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