Longthorpe Tower is a 14th-century three-storey tower in the

Longthorpe Longthorpe is an area of the city of Peterborough, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. Located west from the city centre, the area covers . For electoral purposes it forms part of Peterborough West ward. A 1st century Roman fo ...

area of

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England. It is famous for its well-preserved set of medieval

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

Details

Longthorpe tower is located in the village of

, now a residential area of

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, about two miles (3 km) to the west of the city centre. At the start of the 14th century, Robert Thorpe built the tower as an extension to an existing fortified

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

. Thorpe had worked his way to relative wealth through the local

Peterborough Abbey Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, and formerly known as Peterborough Abbey or St Peter's Abbey, is a cathedral in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. The seat of the Anglic ...

, and the tower may have been something of a status symbol. The tower has three stories, and the first floor was originally designed as a living space for Thorpe. The tower is best known for its English medieval wall paintings, carried out around 1330. The paintings show religious, secular and moral themes and the quality is comparatively good for a provincial work. The paintings were

whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...

ed over around the time of

the Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

and remained hidden until their rediscovery in the 1940s. Historian Clive Rouse considers that "no comparable scheme...of such completeness and of such early date exists in England". The property is now owned by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

and is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and a

Scheduled Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

protected by law.

References

Bibliography

*Emery, Anthony. (2006)
Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500: Southern England.
' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . *Pettifer, Adrian. (2002)
English Castles: a Guide by Counties
'' Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. . *Pounds, Norman John Greville. (1994)
The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history.
' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .

External links

English Heritage site
{{Authority control Towers in Cambridgeshire Buildings and structures in Peterborough Country houses in Cambridgeshire English Heritage sites in Cambridgeshire Scheduled monuments in Cambridgeshire Grade I listed buildings in Peterborough Grade I listed buildings in Cambridgeshire

Details

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading

Books

Journal articles

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External links