The Gatehouse website record for Dalton in Furness

In the civil parish of Dalton Town With Newton. In the historic county of Lancashire North of the Sands (Modern Authority of Cumbria, 1974 county of Cumbria).

Dalton Tower stands at the west end of the town on high ground immediately to the north-east of the parish church. It is a rectangular structure of C14 date, 44 ft. long by 29 ft. 6 in. wide externally, the greater length being from north to south, built of rough rubble limestone with red sandstone quoins and dressings, a good deal restored and the interior entirely modernized. Whether the building was originally part of a larger structure it is impossible to say, the evidence of the walling not being conclusive. It is often called 'Dalton Castle' locally. On the west side at the height of about 16 ft. 9 in. is an external row of stone corbels, probably marking the position of a lean-to building; the plinth, however, is carried round the building on this side as well as on the north and south, but the door and window openings are later than the walling. The building had originally three floors above the ground level, the positions of which are indicated inside by stone corbels and by the doorways opening from the stone staircase in the west wall, which is thickened out at its north end. The walls are 5 ft. thick in the lower story, giving an internal space of 34 ft. by 19 ft. 6 in., which was divided into two by a cross wall immediately south of the stairs. (There is a cellar 5 ft. 6 in. deep without windows at the north end of the building commonly called 'the dungeon,' the only access to which is by a trap door in the floor.) The entrance is at the south-east corner facing south, the staircase being originally approached only from the inside; but at a later date, probably early in C18, an external door to the staircase was cut through the wall on the west side. In 1545–6 the tower was in 'great ruin,' and was reported likely to fall into 'still greater ruin if speedy remedy be not shortly provided.' (Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 204–5) It was then described as consisting of' three several chambers from the ground, one above another, all the floors whereof have been made of timber.' The floors and joists were, however, then rotten with water that had rained on them, 'the roof was decayed for lack of thatch,' the lime of the walls washed out, and the walls themselves partly decayed at the corners and other places. (Ibid) The tower was repaired with material from Furness Abbey, (This probably accounts for the red sandstone.) and was afterwards used as a prison. At the beginning of C18 the ground floor was converted into a stable, the original doorway to the staircase being then made up and the outer one inserted. About this time also the first and third floors were raised and the second floor partly taken out, the remainder at the north end being raised and made into a gallery with access from a doorway in the staircase. From the evidence of the corbels the height of the ground story was originally 7 ft. 4 in. and that of the first and second floors respectively 7 ft. 10 in. and 9 ft. 3 in.; the upper floor, which was probably the original courtroom, being 11 ft. 3 in. to the ceiling. The C18 alterations, however, raised the height of the ground story to 9 ft. and introduced a middle room 16 ft. high. The top floor remained unchanged, but before the end of the century all its windows had been built up. The new middle story was used till 1856 as the court-room, and was lit at the south end by a large new window of three lights with semicircular head. In 1856 it underwent a thorough restoration when the interior was practically gutted, the three stories being further reduced to two by the insertion of a single floor at mid-height. The ground floor was reconstructed, a wooden staircase being inserted at the north and approached by a corridor from the main entrance, and a new slated gabled roof erected, the building then assuming its present appearance. The C18 window on the south side was done away with and the upper window, which is of four lights with elliptical traceried head and external hood mould, was lengthened 3 ft. (There is an illustration showing these windows in Close's ed. of West's Antiq. of Furness (1805), 345.) At the same time a new pointed two-light window with traceried head was inserted on the west side to the ground floor, two squareheaded windows on the north side to the ground and first floor were restored, an elliptical-headed window at the south end of the east front to the top floor was replaced by a new pointed one of two lights, and other parts of the stonework, including the parapet, were renewed. The parapet, which is of red sandstone and 5 ft. in height, is quite plain except for a roughly carved human figure at each corner, with a quarter-round moulding below and setting back in three receding courses at the top, the height of which is 40 ft. above the ground. On the north and west sides is a string course at half height below the parapet, but the south and east sides are unbroken horizontally, the east being quite plain in the lower portion. This side of the building had, however, for some years previous to 1856 built up against it two rough-cast gabled houses carried on columns, probably of 18th-century date, the open lower part of which served as a covered market hall. The original aspect of the tower on this side can therefore only be conjectured. (A view in 1817 by C. Cuitt given in Gregson's Portf. of Fragments, 271, shows this structure still standing, the columns of stone or brick and wood. The plinth on the east side of the castle may have been cut away when these buildings were either erected or removed. A view from the north-east, c. 1784, showing the buildings against the north and east sides, is in Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Antiq. Soc. (new ser.), x, 322. An early 19th-century drawing from the south-west is also given, and a view showing the later buildings on the east side about 1860, pp. 324–5. The upper part of the wall, however, retains an original pointed window of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil over which lit the original top floor, and two square-headed lights below. (VCH)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SD22617394

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 38203
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 4381 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

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