| Lambton Castle | |
|---|---|
 Lambton Castle in the late 19th century | |
  | |
| General information | |
| Type | Stately home |
| Town or city | Chester-le-Street, County Durham |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 54°52′01″N1°32′10″W / 54.867°N 1.536°W NZ298526 |
| Designations | Grade II* listed building |
Lambton Castle stands above Chester-le-Street, County Durham and is a stately home, the ancestral seat of the Lambton family, the Earls of Durham. It is listed in the mid-category of listed building, Grade II*.
Largely constructed as it is between 1820 and 1828 by John Lambton, first Earl of Durham and one-time Governor General of Canada, it was built around Harraton Hall, a 17th-century mansion. The castle was designed by architects Joseph Bonomi the Elder and his son Ignatius and built in the style of a Norman castle, as was the fashion of the time. [1]
Later additions to the house built by Sydney Smirke in 1862–65, including the great hall, were largely demolished in 1932. [1] The structure had suffered from subsidence. [2] In the 1930s the family moved to the smaller Biddick Hall on the estate. [3]
The park that surrounds the castle is bordered by a high wall. The family keep going its annual pheasant shoot. The grounds from 1972 until 1980 accommodated a venture which closed, Lambton Lion Park. [4]
Later the family have sold Biddick Woods enabling a link road from the A182 to the A690 in Houghton-le-Spring and new business units. [5]
In 2012, the castle was the setting of the BBC One drama The Paradise . [6]
On 30 December 2015 plans for the estate's development were submitted to the local planning authority to help fund park upkeep and conservation, with a vision to turn the castle into a wedding venue, boutique hotel or both, aiming to spend £26 million to £28.5 million on building and labour. The plans were submitted by the Trustees of Lord Durham’s 1989 Voluntary Settlement, which manages the estate on behalf of the family. [7]
Wythenshawe Hall is a 16th-century timber-framed historic house and former manor house in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England, 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Manchester city centre in Wythenshawe Park. Built for Robert Tatton, it was home to the Tatton family for almost 400 years. Its basic plan is a central hall with two projecting wings.
John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham,, also known as "Radical Jack" and commonly referred to in Canadian history texts simply as Lord Durham, was a British Whig statesman, colonial administrator, Governor General and high commissioner of British North America. A leading reformer, Durham played a major role in the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832. He later served as ambassador to Russia. He was a founding member and chairman of the New Zealand Company that played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand. George Woodcock says that he was, "Proud, wayward, immensely rich, with romantic good looks and an explosive temper." He was one of those "natural rebels who turn their rebellious energies to constructive purposes. Both at home and abroad he became a powerful exponent of the early nineteenth-century liberal spirit."
Washington is a town in the Sunderland district, in Tyne and Wear, England. Historically part of County Durham, it is the ancestral settlement of the local Washington family, from which the first President of the United States George Washington descended. It has a population of 67,085.
Chester-le-Street is a market town in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. It is located around 6 miles north of Durham and is also close to Newcastle upon Tyne. The town holds markets on Saturdays. In 2021, the town had a population of 23,555.
Earl of Durham is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1833 for the Whig politician and colonial official John Lambton, 1st Baron Durham. Known as "Radical Jack", he played a leading role in the passing of the Great Reform Act of 1832. As Governor General of British North America, he was the author of the famous Report on the Affairs of British North America, known in Canada as the Durham Report. He had already been created Baron Durham, of the City of Durham and of Lambton Castle in the County Palatine of Durham, in 1828. He was created Viscount Lambton at the same time that he was raised to the earldom. These titles are also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Antony Claud Frederick Lambton, also known as Lord Lambton, was a British aristocrat who served as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1951 to 1973. Styled as Viscount Lambton from 1941 to 1970, he became the 6th Earl of Durham in February 1970 but disclaimed the title soon after. As a result of a sex scandal in 1973, he resigned from Parliament and ministerial office. He was a cousin of Alec Douglas-Home, who was Prime Minister for a year from 1963 to 1964.
Chester-le-Street was a local government district in County Durham, England. Its council was based in Chester-le-Street. Other places in the district included Great Lumley and Sacriston.
The Penshaw Monument is a memorial in the style of an ancient Greek temple on Penshaw Hill in the metropolitan borough of the City of Sunderland, North East England. It is located near the village of Penshaw, between the towns of Washington and Houghton-le-Spring in historic County Durham. The monument was built between 1844 and 1845 to commemorate John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham (1792–1840), Governor-General of British North America and author of the Durham Report on the future governance of the American territories. Owned by the National Trust since 1939, it is a Grade I listed structure.
Raby Castle is a medieval castle located near Staindrop in County Durham, England, among 200 acres (810,000 m2) of deer park. It was built by John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby, between approximately 1367 and 1390. Cecily Neville, the mother of the Kings Edward IV and Richard III, was born here. After Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland, led the failed Rising of the North in favour of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1569 Raby Castle was taken into royal custody. Sir Henry Vane the Elder purchased Raby Castle in 1626 and neighbouring Barnard Castle from the Crown, and the Earls of Darlington and Dukes of Cleveland added a Gothic-style entrance hall and octagonal drawing room. From 1833 to 1891 they were the Dukes of Cleveland and they retain the title of Lord Barnard. Extensive alterations were carried out in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is famed for both its size and its art, including works by old masters and portraits. After 1733 it was frequented from his young age of eleven by the poet Christopher Smart, who eloped briefly at the age of thirteen with Anne Vane, daughter of Henry Vane, who succeeded to the Barnard title. It is a Grade I listed building and open to the public on a seasonal basis.
Great Lumley is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated south east of Chester-le-Street, near Lumley Castle. It has a population of 3,843, reducing to 3,684 at the 2011 census.
James Joicey, 1st Baron Joicey JP DL was an English industrialist, politician, and aristocrat known primarily for being a coal mining magnate from Durham and a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP).
The A183 road runs from South Shields in Tyne and Wear, through Sunderland and ends at Chester-le-Street in County Durham. It is a major route in South Tyneside, Sunderland and Chester-le-Street serving many areas and landmarks along its route.
The Tempest family was an English recusant family that originated in western Yorkshire in the 12th century.
The parish church of St Mary and St Cuthbert is a Church of England church in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, England. The site has been used for worship for over 1100 years; elements of the current building are over 950 years old. The oldest surviving translation of the Gospels into English was done here, by Aldred between 947 and 968, at a time when it served as the centre of Christianity from Lothian to Teesside.
Biddick Hall is a small privately owned 18th-century country mansion at Bournmoor, County Durham, near the City of Sunderland and Chester-le-Street. It is a Grade I listed building and the home of the Lambton family.
The Paradise is a British television costume drama series co-produced by BBC Studios and Masterpiece. The Paradise premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 25 September 2012 and premiered in the United States on PBS on 6 October 2013. The series is an adaptation of Émile Zola's 1883 novel Au Bonheur des Dames. It relocates the story to North East England..
Benjamin Gummow was an architect who worked from Ruabon near Wrexham in Wales. He worked almost exclusively for Sir Watkin Williams Wynn of Wynnstay, Ruabon and the Grosvenor family of Eaton Hall near Chester. He was born in St Endellion in Cornwall in 1766 and died at Ruabon in March 1844.
Hardwick Hall in Sedgefield, County Durham is a building of historical significance and is a Grade II listed building on the English Heritage Register. 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.
The Red Boy, or Master Lambton, are popular names for a portrait made in 1825 by Sir Thomas Lawrence. It is officially entitled with the name of its subject, Charles William Lambton, who was the elder son of John Lambton.
