Geograph - photograph every grid square

A type of structure peculiar to the counties (English and Scottish) that adjoin or are close to the Scottish Border. These are defended stone-built farmhouses usually dating from the 16th-17th centuries AD. They are two-storey with thick walls, small windows and had internal access to upper living quarters, usually through a trapdoor and ladder through the barrel vault roof of the ground floor. The lower door could be barred and protected against fire by a quenching hole. The ground floor was used to house animals where they could be protected from theft by the Reivers. The upper floor was for the family. Most were subsequently modified when living conditions were more peaceful following the union of the crowns in 1603. They were built and lived in by well-off families.
Link

The Bastle at Raw Farm is a Listed Building & Scheduled Monument (List Entry: 1008889): Link (Archive Link )

The Raw was the scene of the murder in 1791 of Margaret Crozier by William Winter who was executed for the crime at Winter's Gibbet in Elsdon parish.
Link

According to the Ordnance Survey Name Book for Elsdon (c.1860):
"A very ancient stone building formerly used as a Border stronghold the walls of which are about 6 feet thick. It is not known by whom it was erected nor what chieftain occupied it last. It is now used as a barn by Mr Brown. It was used as a dwelling up to 1791 when its last occupier an old woman called Margaret Crozier was brutally murdered in this building, William Winter the perpetrator of this atrocious deed was tried and executed at Morpeth and his body brought back and hung in chains on a prominent location within sight of the scene of this foul deed."
Link