Clifton Tower
OS Grid ref:- NY 5327
Clifton Tower is situated in a farmyard across the road from St Cuthbert's church at the village of Clifton which lies around two miles to the south of Penrith.
A small pele tower, Clifton Tower stands at three storeys high and measures 33 feet by 26 feet. Dating to the fifteenth century, the tower is the only surviving part of a manor house which once belonged to the Wybergh family. Its windows are larger than those of older pele towers, nor does it have the massive walls typical of such structures. The ground floor consisted of a single room with a partitioned west end, a stair leads to the upper rooms and the roof.
Archaeological excavations revealed the remains of a hall and cross wing, dating to the late fourteenth to early fifteenth century. The present tower replaced the cross wing and was extended to the south, but this extension was demolished in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth century and replaced by a new, larger hall. The hall was demolished in the early part of the nineteenth century. Some restoration work was carried out on the building in 1979.
Clifton Tower was plundered by Jacobite forces in 1745 prior to the Battle of Clifton Moor, the last battle fought on English soil between the forces of the Stuart Pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie and those of William, Duke of Cumberland, later to earn the name 'Butcher Cumberland' at Culloden. In St Cuthbert's churchyard opposite the tower ten men killed in the battle lie buried. A stone near the churchyard gate commemorates the event.
The tower is in the care of English Heritage, admission is free.
Castles and Stately Homes of Cumbria