- This article is about the farm at Housesteads, for the Roman fort, see Vercovicium.
Coordinates: 55°00′47″N 2°19′52″W / 55.013°N 2.331°W
| Housesteads | |
.png)  Housesteads
 Housesteads shown within Northumberland |
|
| OS grid reference | NY789687 |
|---|---|
| List of places: UK • England • Northumberland | |
Housesteads is a former farm in the civil parish of Bardon Mill in the English county of Northumberland. Its lands include the ruins of the Roman fort of Vercovicium. Housesteads lies somewhat to the south of Broomlee Lough.
Border reivers
During Elizabethan and Stuart times, Housesteads was the home of the Armstrongs, a notorious family of border reivers. They were a well-known band of horse thieves and cattle rustlers who used the old Roman fort as a corral for their ill-gotten gains. They traded as far afield as Aberdeen and the south of England. At one time every male member of the family was said to have been a 'broken man', formally outlawed by English or Scottish authorities. The last of the family was hanged at the end of the 17th century and his brothers fled to America.
The Armstrongs lived in a typical 16th century defensive bastle house of two storeys: the ground floor for livestock and the upper level for living quarters. Its ruins remain built up against the south gate of the Roman fort and clearly show its defensive nature, with external stone steps and narrow loop windows. A corn drying kiln was inserted into the gate's guard chamber in the 17th century.
References
- Birley, Eric (1952). Housesteads Roman Fort. London: English Heritage.
- Dodds, Glen Lyndon, (2002) Historic Sites of Northumberland & Newcastle upon Tyne pp 96–103
- CastleUK. "Housesteads Bastle House". CastleUK.net. http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/87/housesteadsbastle.htm. Retrieved 2006-02-08.
- Hickey, Julia. "Carlisle and the Border Reivers". TimeTravel-Britain.com. http://www.timetravel-britain.com/06/Oct/reivers.shtml. Retrieved 2006-02-08.
External links
 |
This Northumberland location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
