Tradition states that in 1395, the tower was built to protect the minister and parishioners of Embleton's Church of the Holy Trinity after the village suffered from a raid by the Scots.

[1][2] The first vicarage was provided for the vicar of Embleton by Merton College, Oxford, who held the patronage of the parish, in 1332.

[4] The present building includes a house built in about 1828 as a vicarage adjoining the tower.

A low ridge lies between the vicarage and the sea, about a mile away at Embleton Bay.

[10] In about 1828, a vicarage designed in the Tudor style by architect John Dobson, was built on one side of the tower.

[11] He began his History of the Papacy at the vicarage; he and his wife Louise between them wrote a total of 15 books while there.

Architect and civil engineer Kay Seymour-Walker lived in the house from his retirement until his death in 2018: he left the tower to his gardener, and it was put on sale in 2021.

A report at the time indicated that the structure has "eight bedrooms, seven reception rooms, a conservatory and a library" but "requires extensive repairs and modernisation".

[9] The tower probably had a spire made of wood and lead, similar to another at Ryton.

[9] The tower structure consists of three stages, the lower one retaining its original Norman features.