Tower Cottage, Bedlington

Bedlington, Northumberland

Last Updated:

27 Jul 2023

Bedlington, Northumberland

This is a

Dwelling

Towers Close, Bedlington

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1041400

Founded in

18th Century

Current status is

Extant

Designer (if known):

Building is now divided into two houses. Grade II Listed building.

Tower Cottage is a late 18th Century dwelling once thought to be an observatory then a school. The actual provenance of this building is hard to locate, and not much history of the building exists. According to Bedlington Council, the dwelling was built by a curate, an assistant to the parish priest, to fulfill his passion of learning and intrigue.

The building in the 1910 was extended and divided into what it is now. I have tried to find more information on its existence as a school but have fallen short due to it not appearing on records nor in any documents.

The building is listed, and Heritage England states below, advising the features and architecture of the building:

Listing Description (if available)

"House, now 2 dwellings. Late C18, extended and altered 1910. Coursed rubble with tooled or tooled-and-margined quoins and dressings; green slate roof except for blue slates on 1910 south extension. Front elevation 2 + 3 storeys, 4 bays, in 2 sections. Left part set forward; left bay has 2-storey bay window with paired sash windows; 12-pane upper leaf, plate-glass lower; to right porch with renewed door, plain overlight and battlemented parapet, with 8-pane sash above. Hipped roof with corniced ridge stack. On right 3-storey tower with early C20 bronze sundial in moulded stone surround below 2nd floor 12-pane sash in alternating-block surround. Corbelled-out battlemented parapet carrying small corniced stack on right. Right return of tower shows 12-pane sash at 1st floor level. Recessed right part shows two 8-pane sashes to 1st floor of left bay; right bay is 1910 extension with altered windows. Roof hipped to right with 2 ridge stacks, the left rendered, the right stepped-and-corniced."

Above is the village of Bedlington in 1898. As we can see the main bulk of the village is the one high street, featuring its magnificent churches and public houses. Tower Cottage lies alone on a lane leading down to Hartford Wood, with a small footpath leading to a pond on its north side.

As already noted it is believed the house was built by a parish assistant, and may be reasonably accurate thanks to the copious amount of places of worship this small village had at this point.

The building is

The building at this point is unlabelled due to the housing sprawl surrounding it, but is still the centrepiece of its surroundings.

Though Bedlington at this point is a bustling industrial town, the area still maintains a village feel thanks to its quaint high street and lush green areas. Church Lane is no exception bordering the countryside and farmland to its south.

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