| Seaham Hall | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Seaham Hall Hotel. (The water feature in the foreground is named 'Charybdis') | |
  Location in County Durham | |
| General information | |
| Location | Seaham,County Durham, England, UK |
| Coordinates | 54°50′53″N1°20′47″W / 54.84814°N 1.34634°W |
| OS grid | NZ421505 |
Seaham Hall is an English country house, now run as a spa hotel, in County Durham.
Seaham Hall was built in the 1790s by Sir Ralph Milbanke, 6th Baronet. In 1815 the poet Lord Byron married Anne Isabella Milbanke at Seaham Hall. The fruit of their marriage was Ada Lovelace, the mathematician and pioneer of computing.
Seaham Hall was one of the many properties acquired by Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry through his second marriage to Lady Frances Anne Vane-Tempest in 1819. She was one of the greatest heiresses of the time. She stood to inherit nearly 65,000 acres (260 km2). They purchased the Seaham estate in 1821 from Sir Ralph for £63,000 [1] and developed it into what is now the modern harbour town of Seaham. This town was designed to rival nearby Sunderland. The title Viscount Seaham was created as a courtesy title for the eldest son of the marriage, who became Earl Vane on his father's death; however, when the 4th Marquess of Londonderry died childless Earl Vane inherited the Londonderry titles and his eldest son took the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh.
However, for much of his life the 5th Marquess lived at Plas Machynlleth, his wife's home in Montgomeryshire. The family did not spend much time at Seaham but used their Irish house - Mount Stewart, which was more impressive.
Benjamin Disraeli visited Seaham Hall in 1861.
Following the death of the 6th Marquess in 1915, his son the 7th Marquess put the hall at the disposal of the authorities to use as a hospital during the Great War, [1] and it subsequently continued in use as a general hospital before closing in 1978.
The building during the 1980s and 1990s has been redeveloped as a hotel, a nursing home and finally a luxury five-star hotel and spa.
In 1984, it was acquired by the Jalal family of Sunderland, who worked at rebuilding, renovating and returning the deteriorated building to its former glory. It was opened in 1985 as the Seaham Hall Hotel and remained in the hands of the Jalal family for nearly six years. In 1991, it was sold by the Jalal family to Dr Mohinder Singh Mullea, a local doctor who also owned Tara House, an old people's residential home, and was officially converted to an old people’s home in 1991.
In June 1997, Seaham Hall was purchased by a local businessman, Tom Maxfield, and his wife Jocelyn. The rundown, derelict building was transformed into the 5-star luxury hotel and spa and became part of the Tom's Company group of hotels.
A viscount or viscountess is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscountcy.
A courtesy title is a form of address in systems of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer, as well as certain officials such as some judges and members of the Scottish gentry. These styles are used "by courtesy" in the sense that persons referred to by these titles do not in law hold the substantive title. There are several different kinds of courtesy titles in the British peerage system.
Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated 6 miles south of Sunderland and 13 miles (21 km) east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and coal mines. The town is twinned with the German town of Gerlingen.
Marquess of Londonderry, of the County of Londonderry, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland.
Earl of Antrim is a title that has been created twice, both times in the Peerage of Ireland and both times for members of the MacDonnell family, originally of Scottish origins.
Machynlleth is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 2,147, rising to 2,235 in 2011. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as Mach.
Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, was an Anglo-Irish nobleman, a British soldier and a politician. He served in the French Revolutionary Wars, in the suppression of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and in the Napoleonic wars. He excelled as a cavalry commander in the Peninsular War (1807–1814) under John Moore and Arthur Wellesley.
Frederick William Robert Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry (1805–1872), styled Viscount Castlereagh from 1822 to 1854, was a British nobleman and Tory politician. He was briefly Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under Sir Robert Peel between December 1834 and April 1835.
Edward Charles Stewart Robert Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 8th Marquess of Londonderry,, styled Lord Stewart until 1915 and Viscount Castlereagh between 1915 and 1946, was a British peer and politician.
Edith Helen Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry, DBE was a noted and influential society hostess in the United Kingdom between World War I and World War II, a friend of the first Labour prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald. She was a noted gardener and a writer and editor of the works of others.
Mount Stewart is a 19th-century house and garden in County Down, Northern Ireland, owned by the National Trust. Situated on the east shore of Strangford Lough, a few miles outside the town of Newtownards and near Greyabbey, it was the Irish seat of the Stewart family, Marquesses of Londonderry. Prominently associated with the 2nd Marquess, Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Britain's Foreign Secretary at the Congress of Vienna and with the 7th Marquess, Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, the former Air Minister who at Mount Stewart attempted private diplomacy with Hitler's Germany, the house and its contents reflect the history of the family's leading role in social and political life in Britain and Ireland.
George Henry Robert Charles William Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry, KP, styled Viscount Seaham between 1823 and 1854 and known as The Earl Vane between 1854 and 1872, was a British aristocrat, businessman, diplomat and Conservative politician.
Londonderry House was an aristocratic townhouse situated on Park Lane in the Mayfair district of London, England. The mansion served as the London residence of the Marquesses of Londonderry. It remained their home until 1962. In that year Londonderry House was sold by the Trustees of the 7th Marquess of Londonderry's Will Trusts to a developer who built the "Londonderry Hotel" on the site, not the Hilton. The Hilton Hotel is on the other side of the street, and had already been opened. COMO Metropolitan London now occupies the site of Londonderry House.
Wynyard, sometimes known as Wynyard Hall, is a large English country house near Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham. The house was the English family seat of the Vane-Tempest-Stewart family, Marquesses of Londonderry, an Anglo-Irish aristocratic dynasty, until it was sold to Sir John Hall in 1987.
Plas Machynlleth is the former Welsh residence of the Marquesses of Londonderry. It is situated in the market town of Machynlleth in Powys, Wales. It was brought into the family following the 1846 marriage of the then Viscount Seaham to Mary Cornelia Edwards, who inherited it on the death of her father, Sir John Edwards, in 1850. Sir John had extended and renamed the house. It is a Grade II* listed building and its gardens, now mainly a public park, are listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Lord Adolphus Frederick Charles William Vane-Tempest, known until 1854 as Lord Adolphus Vane, was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.
Sir John Edwards, 1st Baronet, was a Whig politician who served as Member of Parliament for Montgomery from 8 April 1833 to 23 June 1841. The Edwards Baronetcy, of Garth in the County of Montgomery, was created for him in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 23 July 1838. Since he had no male heirs, the estate passed to his daughter Mary Cornelia Edwards (c.1829-1906) and the title became extinct on his death.
Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry was a wealthy Anglo-Irish heiress and noblewoman. She was the daughter of Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet. She married Charles William Stewart, 1st Baron Stewart. She became a marchioness in 1822 when Charles succeeded his half-brother as 3rd Marquess of Londonderry.
Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry,, styled Viscount Castlereagh between 1872 and 1884, was a British Conservative politician, landowner and benefactor, who served in various capacities in the Conservative administrations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After succeeding his father in the marquessate in 1884, he was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland between 1886 and 1889. He later held office as Postmaster General between 1900 and 1902 and as President of the Board of Education between 1902 and 1905. A supporter of the Protestant causes in Ulster, he was an opponent of Irish Home Rule and one of the instigators of the formal alliance between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Unionists in 1893.
Lord Herbert Lionel Henry Vane-Tempest, KCVO, was a British company director. He was a director of the Cambrian Railways and died in the Abermule train collision in January 1921.
Media related to Seaham Hall at Wikimedia Commons