Benwell tower

The earliest reference to a tower is in documents from 1538-39 where it is contained in a list of property lately belonging to the priors of Tynemouth. Both then and in the 1608 Survey of Crown Property it is described as the manor house. It has been suggested that "a gabled residence with projecting chimney stacks" was added to the south-west angle of the tower in the late medieval period, and that then, or earlier, the whole was enclosed by a courtyard. Antiquarian drawings show a plain oblong tower three storeys high with a crenellated papapet, but no medieval windows are visible. In the mid 18th century the house was largely rebuilt, but the house and tower were demolished in 1831, and replaced by the present Benwell Tower.