Longthorpe Tower is a fourteenth century, three-storey tower in the care of English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

, situated in the village of Longthorpe, now a residential area of Peterborough

Peterborough

Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, about two miles (3 km) to the west of the city centre.

It was added in 1310 to a fortified manor house

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

. The interior contains the best-surviving example of English mediæval wall paintings in northern Europe, which survived under a layer of whitewash

Whitewash

Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a very low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime and chalk . Various other additives are also used...

. This varied "spiritual encyclopedia" of worldly and religious subjects includes the Wheel of Life, the Nativity and King David. (See image at http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/images/friends/Longthorpe-Tower-web.jpg.)

The site is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Monument protected by law.

Books

• Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern) p21
• Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p272
• Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p167
• Taylor, Alison, 1986, Castles of Cambridgeshire (Cambridge)
• King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p319-20
• Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p256
• Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1961, Buildings of England: Northamptonshire (Penguin) p284-5
• Downman, E.A., 1906, in Serjeantson, R.M., Ryland, W. and Adkins, D. (eds), VCH Northampton Vol2 p456-7, 459
• Turner, T. H.
  Thomas Hudson Turner
  Thomas Hudson Turner archaeologist and architectural historian, was born in London of Northumbrian extraction. He was educated at Mr Law’s school in Chelsea and then apprenticed as a printer...
  
  , 1851, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol1 p153

Journal Articles

• Casagrande, Gino and Kleinhenz, Christopher, 1985, 'Literary and Philosophical Perspectives on the Wheel of the Five Senses in Longthorpe Tower' Traditio Vol41 p311-27
• [Fletcher], 1969, Medieval Archaeology Vol13 p273
• Rouse, E.Clive and Baker, Audley, 1955, 'The wall-paintings at Longthorpe Tower' Archaeologia Vol96 pp1–57
• Country Life Vol101 p604
• Yun, Bee, 2007, 'A Visual Mirror of Princes: The Wheel on the Mural of Longthorpe Tower' Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes Vol70 pp1–32

Guidebooks

• 2001, Longthorpe Tower Cambridgeshire (English Heritage)
• Rouse, E.Clive, 1949 and 1987, Longthorpe Tower (HMSO)

External links

• The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England