Hardwick Hall in Sedgefield, County Durham is a building of historical significance and is a Grade II listed building on the English Heritage Register. [1] A major part of it was built in the late 1700s but it is possible that some of it dates from about 1634. It was the residence for many notable people for two centuries. It is now a hotel which provides accommodation and restaurant services and caters for special events particularly weddings.
Eneas Mackenzie writes in his An Historical, Topographical, and Descriptive View of the County Palatine of Durham (1834) that:
About half a mile west of Sedgefield stands the manor and hall of Hardwick. Under Hatfield's Survey, Roger Fulthorp and John Herdwick held this manor, by homage, fealty, suit of court, and 10s rent. In 1391, Thomas Watkinson, of Elstop, was seized of a moiety of the manor. John de Herdwick died, seized of his proportion, in the 9th year of Bishop Skirlaw; and Agnes, his daughter and heiress, married Gilbert de Hoton, who died in the 12th year of the same prelate, seized in her right, leaving John his son and heir. The families of Cramlington and Killinghall soon after held possessions here; and, in 1500, John Hebborne, in right of Ellen his wife, and William Hansard, in right of Elizabeth his wife, as daughters and coheiresses of John Hoton, had livery of his lands. Soon afterwards, Hardwick appears to have been wholly the estate of the Hebbornes: and John Hebborne, Esq., in 1507, obtained licence to alien the manors or townships of Herdwick and Shotton, nigh Sedgefield, to Anthony Mitford and others; which alienation must have been in trust or settlement, for Anthony Hebborne, Esq.; whilst he was seized of the manor, was attainted of high treason in the Northern Rebellion, and forfeited his manor of Hardwick and lands in Mainsforth and Bishop-Middleham. In the 32d year of Queen Elizabeth, Hardwick was granted, by letters patent, to George Frevill, Esq., as a reward for his services during the rebellion, with remainder to Elizabeth his wife, and to William Jennison, under a reserved rent of £25, 19s. 6d. [2]
In 1590 the manor of Hardwick was granted to George Freville. He was knighted by King James at York, 17 April 1603. [3] George Freville died childless in 1619, leaving his lands to his younger nephew Nicholas. In 1645 Nicholas compounded for his Hardwick estate. He died in 1674, leaving three daughters and co-heirs, Elizabeth, Mary, and Margaret widow of Thomas Lambton. Freville Lambton, son of Margaret, had Hardwick by the will of his grandfather. He and his mother, then the widow of Nicholas Conyers of Biddick Waterville, [4] [5] made a settlement of the manor in 1687. Freville Lambton married 1) Ann Milward, of Uttoxeter, Stafford; 2) Thomasine Milward; and 3) Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Wright, English judge and Chief Justice of the King’s Bench and sister of Robert Wright for who the Manor House in Sedgefield was built in 1707. [6] By his second wife, he had his son and heir, Thomas, who had six daughters and co-heirs: Barbara, Dorothy, Thomasina, Philadelphia, Margaret and Elizabeth. They sold Hardwick in 1748 to John Burdon, who in 1780 conveyed it to William Russell, retaining a life interest. [7] [8] [2]
John Burdon (1711–1792) is credited as the main originator of Hardwick Hall, though Nikolaus Pevsner believes that he built on an existing manor which was constructed in 1634. [9] The advertisement for the Hardwick Estate sold by the Lambton family in 1747, just before Burdon bought it, states that there exists a "good Mansion House" [10] so it is possible that he made major alterations and additions to this building.
John Burdon was born in 1711 in South Shields, then in County Durham. His father was Nicholas Burdon, a wealthy salt and shipping merchant. He remained a bachelor all of his life. When his father died in 1847 John inherited his fortune, [11] and was able to purchase the Hardwick Estate and spend a large sum on elaborate pleasure gardens. The gardens were described in publications of the time: Hutchinson in 1785 says that they are "laid out with exquisite taste" and then details buildings and ornaments. [12] The book includes an engraved drawing of the park which is shown above right.
In 1790 at the age of 79 John sold the Hardwick Estate to William Russell.
William Russell in 1796 bought Brancepeth Castle. From about his time his son Matthew Russell took over the running of Hardwick Hall and made improvements to the house and garden. In 1798 he married Elizabeth Tennyson, daughter of George Tennyson. [13] In 1817 William Russell died, and Matthew inherited Brancepeth Castle. He died in 1822 and his son William Russell inherited Hardwick Hall, which he leased out. When he died in 1850, his sister Emma Maria both inherited Brancepeth Castle and Hardwick Hall. [14] She had married Gustavus Frederick Hamilton in 1828, and he changed his surname to Hamilton-Russell when she gained the family fortune in 1850. Hardwick Hall was now the property of the Hamilton-Russell family.
Gustavus Frederick Hamilton-Russell was the 7th Viscount Boyne. His father was Gustavus Hamilton 6th Viscount Boyne who owned Burwarton House in Shropshire. He married Emma Maria Russell, the daughter of Matthew Russell (outlined above) in 1828. They lived in London for many years and when Emma inherited Hardwick Hall in 1850 they did not move to the house but instead continued to lease it to tenants. [15]
The 7th Viscount Boyne died in 1872 and his son Gustavus Russell Hamilton-Russell (1830-1907) (8th Viscount Boyne) inherited the Hall but he also continued to rent it out. However, in about 1890 his son Gustavus William Hamilton Russell (who later became 9th Viscount Boyne) decided to live there. [16]
Gustavus William Hamilton Russell 9th Viscount Boyne (1864-1942) was born in 1864 in Ireland. He was educated at Eton and then went to Cambridge University. He managed the Hardwick Hall Estate from about 1885. In 1906 he married Margaret Selena Lascelles. Margaret Lascelles was the sister-in law of Princess Mary, daughter of King George V. Her brother Henry Lascelles was the 6th Earl of Harewood and had married Princess Mary in 1922. [17]
Gustavus and Margaret had six children – five sons and one daughter. Unfortunately three of their sons died in World War II. One of these, John Hamilton-Russell, was married shortly before he went to war, and a film of his wedding which was attended by his aunt Princess Mary is available on the British Pathé website. [18]
After the Second World War, Hardwick Hall was used as a maternity home until the early 1960s. Hardwick Hall was used during the Second World War as an evacuation maternity home during the bombing of nearby Sunderland. It was Grade II listed on 9 January 1968. [1]
Sedgefield is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It had a population of 5,211 as at the 2011 census. It has the only operating racecourse in County Durham.
James Wright was a colonial lawyer and jurist who was the last British Royal Governor of the Province of Georgia. He was the only Royal Governor of the Thirteen Colonies to regain control of his colony during the American Revolutionary War.
Viscount Boyne, in the province of Leinster, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1717 for the Scottish military commander Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton of Stackallan. He had already been created Baron Hamilton of Stackallan, in the County of Meath in 1715, also in the Peerage of Ireland. Hamilton was the youngest son of Sir Frederick Hamilton, youngest son of Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley, third son of James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran. His grandson, the second Viscount, represented Newport in the House of Commons. His first cousin, the fourth Viscount, sat as a member of the Irish House of Commons for Navan.
Brandon is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a short distance to the southwest of Durham. Brandon was originally one of the seven townships within the ancient parish of Brancepeth. It grew from a sparsely populated agricultural area into a populous mining district after the establishment of collieries and later coke and fireclay works. Until the 19th century Brandon village, formerly known as East Brandon, was one of the larger settlements in Brancepeth Parish.
(George Frederick) D'Arcy Lambton, 2nd Earl of Durham, styled Viscount Lambton from 1833 to 1840, was a British peer.
Robert Surtees was a celebrated English historian and antiquary of his native County Durham.
Sir Robert Wright was an English judge and Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1687–89.
Hardwick Hall Country Park is a park located in County Durham near Sedgefield. Since 7 October 1986, it has been registered on the Register of Parks and Gardens as a Grade II* listed site, which indicates that a park is "of exceptional historic interest."
Charles Freville Surtees DL JP FRGS was a Conservative Party politician in England.
Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount BoynePC (Ire) (1642–1723) was an Irish soldier and politician. In his youth, he fought in his cousin Sir George Hamilton's regiment for the French in the Franco-Dutch War. About 1678 he obtained a commission in the Irish Army. James II appointed him to the Irish Privy Council in 1685.
The Honourable Gustavus Hamilton was an Irish MP.
The Right Honourable Frederick Hamilton was an Irish politician who represented County Donegal in three Irish parliaments. He was also heir apparent to his father, Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount Boyne. He predeceased him but his son succeeded as the 3rd viscount.
Richard Hamilton, 4th Viscount Boyne was an Irish peer and politician. After serving in the Royal Navy and Irish House of Commons, he inherited the viscountcy from his Frederick Hamilton, 3rd Viscount Boyne in 1772 and died in 1789.
Gustavus Michael George Hamilton-Russell, 10th Viscount Boyne KCVO, JP was an Irish peer, soldier and banker.
Brigadier Richard Gustavus Hamilton-Russell DSO, LVO, DL was an Irish peer, soldier and polo player.
William Russell of Brancepeth Castle in County Durham was a British Whig politician. He sat in the House of Commons between 1822 and 1832.
Robert Wright (1666 – 12 October 1739) was the son of Sir Robert Wright, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1687–1689) who died in Newgate Prison following the Glorious Revolution. In the same year Robert was called to the bar at Middle Temple and became a judge. Robert took the role of Judge of the Common Pleas in the North East of England and married widowed land-heiress Alicea Pitt (née Johnson) (d.1723), daughter of John Johnson of Sedgefield and settled in Sedgefield before returning to London following the Hanoverian succession in 1715. Meanwhile, he fathered seven children with his mistress Isabella (1675 – 21 November 1752) in Bloomsbury, before sailing for colonial Charles Town to become Chief Justice of the colony of Carolina, and subsequently South Carolina, and a plantation owner. He died there in 1739. His son Sir James Wright went on to become a colonial governor of Georgia.
The Manor House in Sedgefield, County Durham was built in 1707 on high ground in a country setting looking on to St. Edmund's Church as a mansion house for wealthy judge Robert Wright. Its notoriety arises from the eminence of the judge of Middle Temple who went on to be Chief Justice of colonial South Carolina and also because it is a rare example of Queen Anne style architecture in an area as far north as Sedgefield, with fine and distinctive architectural features including, reportedly, a wood carving by Grinling Gibbons. In 1756 the house was acquired by John Burdon of nearby Hardwick Estate who installed a noteworthy Palladian Venetian window very likely by the architect James Paine. In the twentieth century the Manor House was the head offices of Sedgefield Rural District Council and after that Sedgefield Magistrates' Court.
William Russell (1734–1817) was an English merchant, coal-fitter and banker. He first went into business as a merchant in Sunderland. He then made a substantial personal fortune from coal mining.
Matthew Russell of Brancepeth Castle was an English landowner and coal proprietor, inheriting from his father William Russell a large fortune. He went into politics, first as a Pittite Tory, holding the Saltash seat in parliament for the last 20 years of his life, with one short break.