Duddo Tower is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade II listed building comprising the ruinous remains of an ancient pele tower

Peel tower

Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...

 and 16th century tower house

Tower house

A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation.-History:Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountain or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces...

, situated on a prominence on the south side of the village of Duddo

Duddo

Duddo is a village in Northumberland situated about south west of Berwick on Tweed.- Landmarks :The ruinous remains of Duddo Tower occupy a prominence to the south of the village....

, Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The Tower was part of the ancient manor of Duddo, of some 1600 acres (6.5 km²), owned by the Stryvelling family. The pele tower was destroyed by the Scots in 1496. The estate was later acquired by the Clavering family

Clavering Baronets

The Baronetcy of Clavering of Axwell was created in the Baronetage of England on 5 June 1661 for James Clavering, the grandson of James Clavering , a merchant adventurer of Newcastle upon Tyne, who was mayor of that city and who bought the estate of Axwell Park, near Blaydon, Northumberland in...

 who rebuilt a tower house on the site in the late 16th century. The house was usually occupied by a junior branch of the family until it was abandoned as a home in the 17th century.

The estate was sold in 1788 by John Clavering of Callaly Castle

Callaly Castle

Callaly Castle is a Grade I listed building and a substantial country house to the north of the village of Callaly, which is some to the west of Alnwick, Northumberland, England.It is situated near the site of a 12th century motte castle...

 to Sir Francis Blake

Sir Francis Blake, 2nd Baronet, of Twizell Castle

Sir Francis Blake was a High Sheriff of Northumberland , a major land owner of that county, and a political writer.He succeeded to the Baronetcy of Twizell Castle on the death of his father Sir Francis Blake, 1st Baronet, of Twizell Castle in 1780.He inherited substantial Northumberland estates...

and sold on by the Blakes (for £45000) in 1823 to Thomas Fryer.