3 ARNSIDE (C.h.)
(O.S. 6 in. XLIV, S.W.)
Arnside is a parish at the head of Morecambe Bay
10 m. S.S.W. of Kendal. Arnside Tower is the
principal monument.
Secular
(1). Arnside Tower (Plate 73), on the S.E. side
of the parish, is a structure of local rubble and rough
ashlar, formerly of four and five storeys, but now
roofless, floorless and partially ruined. It was built
as a large pele-tower probably in the 15th century.
It was burnt in 1602, but was later repaired and
occupied. It was finally dismantled in 1684–90. In
1884 the S.W. angle and most of the S. wall was blown
down in a hurricane.
Arnside Tower
The ruin is a good example of the larger pele-towers
of the district.
The tower was formerly divided by a cross-wall,
mostly fallen, into two unequal parts, the N.W. part
containing the principal rooms and of four storeys,
and the other with the N. tower and garde-robe tower
of five storeys. The entrance was in the middle of
the N.E. face and had a pointed arch, but this is now
fallen and only a gap remains. All the surviving
windows and loops are square headed, but some of
the windows are now represented only by gaps in the
walling. The N. tower retains some part of its parapet,
projecting slightly on rounded corbels; a similar
parapet remains at a slightly higher level on the
surviving part of the N.W. wall. Inside the building,
rounded corbels for the support of the wall-plates
remain in the N.W. and S.E. walls. The turret-staircase at the end of the cross-wall is still largely
complete. The lowest room in the N.W. part, probably the kitchen, has a large fireplace in the N.E.
wall; the arch has fallen, but there is a semi-circular
niche in one end of the recess, a fire-window in the
other and a large oven in the base of the N. tower.
The room above perhaps served as the hall and has
remains of a large fireplace; above it is a second room
retaining a fireplace with a shouldered lintel. The
top room also has a fireplace with a plain lintel. The
S.E. part of the building has a fireplace in each of its
four upper storeys; the two uppermost retain their
lintels, but the others are ruined.
Preserved at the farm are two stone fragments, one
with a bowl and drain and the other with carved masks.
Condition—Ruined.
(2). Hollins Farm, house, ½ m. W.S.W. of (1),
is of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roofs
are slate-covered. It was built perhaps early in the
18th century and altered later. The S.E. chimney-stack has a cylindrical shaft and on the lintel of the doorway is the date 1771 (?). Inside the building are some
exposed ceiling-beams and a panelled cupboard of two
stages and of the local type; the top rail projects
and has turned pendants.
Condition—Good.