Low Chibburn Preceptory - Widdrington

This is a bit of a change for me but I found this while photographing Pillboxes at the weekend

A brief history

The Preceptory of the Knights of St John was defended by a moat enclosing an area circa 100yds diameter. The buildings formed a parallelogram having a courtyard in the middle, a dwelling house on the west, a chapel occupying the entire south side and various offices on the north and east sides. Most of the buildings on the North side have disappeared. The principal entrance was by an arched gateway on North side.The remains are in a ruinous condition and the whole building is now roofless. The moat is now infilled. The chapel was used as a pillbox during the Second World War. Possible that, in this area, this preceptory was fortified.

For a more detailed history please have a look at this website http://www.fusilier.co.uk/widdrington_northumberland/low_chibburn_preceptory_dower_house.htm

Anyway on with the photo's, just hope they do the building justice





















one of the windows that was made into a pillbox embrasure


and a second one


and this is how they would have looked




It's great that this still remains today because it was nearly lost to open cast mining in the 1950's

Cheers Jon

That's a fabulous find, Jonney. Not only a lovely old building but used as defences too...definitely a win/win there.

Cheers Foxy yeah it is definitely a win/win and a lovely place to visit. It's a bit of a trek to get to but well worth it. There wasn't another soul to be seen for miles around it was very peaceful could have stayed there all day