England · Still standing
Embleton Tower
Embleton Tower is a medieval peel tower in the village of Embleton, Northumberland, historically associated with the parish vicar. The stone tower stands three storeys high with vaulted basement chambers and an open parapet belfry; it is a Grade I listed building and remains standing attached to later domestic buildings.
Its prime
1395
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1395
What Embleton Tower looked like in its prime.
A rectangular, three-storey peel tower of weathered brownish sandstone with a high chamfered base and crenellated parapet having six open embrasures. The roofline is low with thin gables and a small central chimney on the east wall; a three-light window and narrow slits puncture the elevations. The tower sits beside a raised churchyard and sheltered by trees, with rough grass and a neighbouring field containing an old dovecote visible nearby. The basement is vaulted.
Its story
The story of Embleton Tower.
Embleton Tower is a peel tower in the Northumberland village of Embleton. Tradition holds it was built in 1395 to protect the minister and parishioners of the Church of the Holy Trinity after the village suffered a Scots raid; a "Vicar's Turris de Emyldon" was known to exist by 1416. The first vicarage here had been provided in 1332 by Merton College, Oxford, which held the patronage of the parish.
The tower stands three storeys high over two vaulted basement rooms, with stone groining similar to the towers at Alnwick and Morpeth, and probably once carried a wooden, lead-covered spire like that at Ryton. A house built about 1828 as the vicarage adjoins it.
The historian Mandell Creighton occupied the vicarage from 1875 to 1884. When Peter Karney, vicar from 1954, retired in 1974, the vicarage passed into private hands and became known as Embleton Tower. It is a Grade I listed building.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1395.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Embleton Tower — including 5 interiors: ground-floor vaulted receiving area, northern vaulted basement chamber, stair cupboard showing steps to upper floor and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate Embleton Tower with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1395 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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