Bastel, bastle, or bastille houses are a type of construction found along the

Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west, separating Scotland and England. The Firth of Forth was the border between the Picto- Gaelic Kingdom of Alba and the Angli ...

, in the areas formerly plagued by

border reivers Border Reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality.Hay, D. "E ...

. They are fortified

farmhouses FarmHouse (FH) is a men's social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 34 active chapters in the United States and Canada.FarmHouse Fraternity New Member ...

, characterised by security measures against

raid RAID (; redundant array of inexpensive disks or redundant array of independent disks) is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical Computer data storage, data storage components into one or more logical units for th ...

s. Their name is said to derive from the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

word "

bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...

Characteristics

The characteristics of the classic bastle house are extremely thick

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

walls Walls may refer to: *The plural of wall, a structure * Walls (surname), a list of notable people with the surname Places * Walls, Louisiana, United States * Walls, Mississippi, United States *Walls, Ontario Perry is a township (Canada), ...

(about 1 metre thick), with the ground floor devoted to stable space for the most valuable

animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...

, and a

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

stone or flat timber floor between it and the first floor with internal access such as a stairway or ladder.Brunskill, R. W.. ''Houses and cottages of Britain: origins and development of traditional buildings''. Great Britain: Victor Gollancz in association with Peter Crawley, 1997. 28-29. Print. The family's living quarters were on the floor above the ground, and during the times before the suppression of the reivers, were only reachable by a ladder which was pulled up from the inside at night. The windows were small or even only

arrow slit An arrowslit (often also referred to as an arrow loop, loophole or loop hole, and sometimes a balistraria) is a narrow vertical aperture in a fortification through which an archer can launch arrows or a crossbowman can launch bolts. The interi ...

s. Bastle houses have many characteristics in common with military

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

s, the main difference being that a bastle was intended primarily as a family dwelling, instead of a pure fortification. Many bastle houses survive today; their construction ensured that they would last a very long time, but most are either ruined or much altered for use as residences or farm buildings. They may be seen on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border. Some well-preserved examples are Thropton Pele, Hole Bastle, Woodhouses Bastle and Black Middens Bastle.

References

Bibliography

* Herman Gabriel Ramm, R. W. McDowall, Eric Mercer (1970)
'Shielings and Bastles.
' HMSO: London. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bastle House Border Reivers Fortified houses History of Northumberland History of agriculture in England History of the Scottish Borders History of agriculture in Scotland Housing in England Housing in Scotland House types in the United Kingdom Human habitats Rural Scotland Scots language Vernacular architecture

Characteristics

See also

References

Bibliography