NZ 085786/Ruin/EH

Tower house constructed between 1439 and 1460 during a period of turbulent border warfare. The tower is a three storied rectangular stone building with two short projections or wings at the south west and north west corners; it is capped by four rounded corner turrets with battlements in between. It is constructed of square blocks of sandstone and measures 21.5m to the highest point. In 1614 a low two storied range was added to the tower house, possibly on the site of an earlier range of buildings. Situated 45m north east of the tower house is a linear depression which can be traced to the north into a walled garden, possibly the remains of an infilled moat and may have been associated with the early Manor of Belsay before the construction of the tower house in C14. It is known that there was an earlier manor house as it received Edward I in 1278 and its location has never been confirmed.