174 



Woodhouses Pete, Coquetdale, Northumberland. By D. D. 

 Dixon. Plate IV. 



The pele or bastle house forming" the subject of the accom- 

 panying pen and ink sketch, stands at Hepple Woodhouses, on 

 the left bank of the river Coquet, about six miles west from 

 Eothbury, and presents to us a memento of those unsettled times 

 in the border-land, those 



" — days of yore, before the birth of order 

 When rapine was the warden of the Border; 

 When will was law, craft wisdom, and strength right, 

 And the best plea for doing wrong was might ; 

 These good old times the poets love to paint, 

 When whip-cord and cold water made a saint." 



This plain but interesting old building is the latest erection of 

 its kind in Coquetdale, and belongs to a class of fortified dwellings 

 known as bastles or strong houses, which two or three centuries ago 

 were indispensable to the safety of the inhabitants of the Borders 

 — not so large and stately as the more important pele towers of 

 Whitton, Tosson, Hepple, Farnham, Burradon, and others. 

 These bastle houses were numerous throughout Coquetdale. At 

 Bickerton there were four occupied by four brothers of the name of 

 Snowden — one of the oldest recorded names in the parish. 

 Eemains of bastles are also found atNewtoun, Netherton, Brink- 

 burn Hope, "Wingates, Eitton White House, and Combe Hill ; 

 while about 70 or 80 years ago nearly every farm-house in Eoth- 

 bury forest consisted of one of these bastles. 



The pole of Woodhouses was built so late as 1602 ; and although 

 shortly after its erection the two kingdoms were united under 

 one monarch, yet for another century the need of peles and bastle 

 houBes oxisted. There was a largo class of borderers on both sides 

 of tho line who had boon so long accustomed to lead lawless lives 

 and to depend on plunder alone for their daily bread, that they 

 could not possibly comprehend the difference of meum and tuum, 

 and settle down all at once as law-abiding and industrious dales- 

 men ; and who, until about the close of the 1 7th century, continued 

 to do a little " honest shifting " for their living amongst the 

 Hocks and herds of their neighbours. 



The Pele is an oblong of 30 feet east and west by 20 feet north 

 and south, and is built about o00 yards from the river, on ground 



