The Castle

So was there a Castle in Tyldesley?

We've been asked this question many times. Tyldesley, the Banks, would seem to be an ideal location for some sort of defensive fortification. With a view into several counties and of course with the only way to Tyldesley being up, some see it as inconceivable that our ancestors did not erect some form of castle somewhere at the top of Castle St, near to St. Georges churchyard. Perhaps some Saxon hill fort who knows?

Whilst we have yet to see any archaeological evidence there are some tantalizing hints that indeed such a structure once graced our town. Was the very name of Castle Street leading south to the very top of the Banks chosen for its historical significance? The first public house in Tyldesley, the Flaming Castle, was located at the top of the hill. Is this an illusion in some ancient, long forgotten folk memory to the destruction of our lost castle?

An estate map of 1825 (below) shows a rectangular structure, at the top of Castle St and opposite the Flaming Castle which has been outlined in heavy line. This was in 1827 to become the site of St. Georges School. Was this the site of the castle? The Flaming Castle is marked in green and the possible site of the Castle in red. Castle St runs between the two from north to south on the map.

Documentary evidence is even scarcer but there is one reference that provides a real clue. In the mid-14th century, so Lunn records, the Tyldesley's, infamous for their violence, highway robbery and abduction possessed a stronghold in Tyldesley apparently referred to in the deeds studied by Lunn as 'la Pele'. Perhaps this stronghold, watchtower or 'Pele tower' was Tyldesley's Castle. Pele Towers were defensive fortifications built primarily in the border counties of Northumberland, Westmoreland and Cumberland in the 14th and 15th centuries. There are also examples in Lancashire. They were places of safety in those dangerous times as Scots raiding parties and armies invaded south of the border. Indeed the Tyldesley's had a connection with the borders as in 1344 John Tyldesley, the son of Henry, was released from jail to join the English garrison in Berwick-on-Tweed. For his services in helping to defend that town he was granted a pardon from his 'homicides, felonies and robberies'. Was it in this border region that he came to appreciate the fortifications being built by the locals? Did he bring such an idea back to Tyldesley, better to continue his violence with such protection? We can only speculate.

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What may Tyldesley Castle have looked like?

A picture of Dacre Castle, Cumbria

'This pele tower, with walls seven feet thick and 66 feet high was built in the 14th century for protection against the Scots. Marauding was dying out in the 17th century, and the castle was made more habitable by the fifth Lord Dacre, who added the large windows'

tower early 1900s Thanks to the unoffical Radcliffe website for this photo and description of Radcliffe Tower- A Lancashire Pele Tower, photo c. 1900)

'It was built in the local red sandstone and is of a type known as a 'pele tower'. This type of medieval fortification is to be found mainly in the north of England, and were typically rectangular in plan, three stories in height, with a single room on each floor. The ground floor was usually roofed with stone vaulting. All these features are found at Radcliffe Tower but the Tower also includes some more unusual details. The Tower internally measured 12.2 metres thick from north to south by 5.5 metres from east to west, with the walls 1.5 metres thick. In the south-west corner this width increased to 1.8 metres to accommodate a staircase which was built into the thickness of the wall. Elsewhere a double plinth ran along the base of the outside walls and increased the wall thickness to 1.9 metres. The ground floor of the Tower was entered by a doorway in the centre of the west wall.'