Tosson Tower

Follow the main road from Rothbury across the Bridge towards Hexham. Turn right up Cemetery Bank and at the top of the hill turn right again and proceed towards Great Tosson following the road signs.

Once a flourishing hamlet with school house, blacksmiths, joiners shop and public house Great Tosson now comprises just a few farm buildings and private houses.

 As with many areas in Northumberland its links to the past are extensive with remains of ancient camps with defensive ramparts and ditches at Tosson Burgh and the remains of a pele tower, relic of border turmoil.

In 1715 John Warburton wrote:

"Great Tosson, a small village south of ye river Coquet, in which is the remains of an old pile (peel tower)."

And indeed, Tosson Tower is one of the many pele towers built as a line of defence against the Scots. The massive walls of the pele tower still stands about thirty or forty feet in height and at a thickness of some nine feet. Many of the outer stones were removed years ago and used in building local farmhouses.

Border towers were constructed using small boulders and welded together using hot lime. It is a tribute to this method of building that these towers have stood the test of time.

The Lords of Hepple held their court in Tosson following the demolition of their own castle and opposite the pele stood the village inn, the Royal George. A stump from the inn's oak beam can still be seen in the house wall.

A short stroll westwards, about half a mile past the farm and you come to the Tosson Lime Kiln. Designed by architect George Reaval in 1888 it was built to last and is certainly the best preserved lime kiln in Northumberland.

Lime is one of the oldest products known to man, and dates back to the stone age. Primitive kilns believed to have been used to produce lime during this era have been excavated and it is thought that lime is the first manufactured chemical to be used by man. This was most probably in farming although it is also one of the oldest mortar materials known. In fact lime plaster in reasonably good condition has been found in the pyramids, some 4,500 years old.

Lime was very important in farming to neutralise or sweeten acid soil and in this area it was produced in one of the many lime kilns dotted around. Some of these were in private hands whilst others were for communal use.

Mixed with coal and burned at extremely high temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees centigrade the limestone or calcium carbonate yielded carbon dioxide and calcium oxide also known as quicklime. Although hard work, the method was easy: alternate layers of coal and limestone were tipped in the top of the kiln and the burnt remains removed through the small doors at the base.

During the war many lime kilns were closed down for fear that the glow of the furnace would attract the enemy at night .

The top of this kiln is now surrounded by a fence but shortly after the war a cow wandered too close and fell in. Although it was unharmed after a drop of some fifteen feet it proved difficult to extract it and the door and wall at the north side was removed. Rumour has it the cow was unscathed but the enlarged hole remains to this day.