Preston Tower

The Preston pele tower, which is owned by the Baker Cresswell family, was built between 1392 and 1399, when warfare between England and Scotland was endemic.

At the time of Agincourt (1415) it was one of 78 Pele Towers in Northumberland. Its owners included Sir Guiscard Harbottle, who was slain fighting against James IV at the battle of Flodden in 1513, the conflict that brought Mary, Queen of Scots to the Scottish throne.

The property is uninhabited but furnished as might have been in the 14th century. A later addition is a clock with two faces & an hourly strike audible from afar, with mechanism on view.

Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the famous architectural historian, described Preston Tower as ‘amongst the most spectacular pieces of medieval masonry in England’. The large stone blocks used in its 7-foot-thick walls bear the same masons’ marks as those at Warkworth Castle, further down the coast.

On the ground floor you can visit the guard room and prison, while the first floor has a bedroom and living room. On the second floor is the Flodden room, with a description of the battle of Flodden, and some interesting extracts from Border history and the Border ballads.