Wynyard Hall

Wynyard Hall
Wynyard Hall
	Wynyard Hall, circa 1880
	Location in County Durham
General information
Architectural style	Neo-Palladian
Location	Wynyard, Stockton-on-Tees, England, UK
Coordinates	54°37′31″N1°21′01″W / 54.6252°N 1.3503°W
OS grid	NZ425255
Client	Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry
Owner	Sir John Hall and family

Last updated July 24, 2024

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. It is currently used as an events venue.

The house

The building was originally designed by Benjamin Dean Wyatt and completed by Philip Wyatt between 1822 and 1830. The entrance front has 13 bays and a 6-column Corinthian portico.

The entrance hall resembles that of Mount Stewart, the family's estate in Northern Ireland. It has a coffered segmental tunnel vault with apses at both ends and in the middle. There was a large crystal chandelier suspended from the ceiling. The main octagonal centre hall extends the full height of the house and has a dome with caryatids around it and a skylight. There is also a mirrored drawing room with a gilded and painted ceiling, and a vast ballroom similar to that of the family's London residence, Londonderry House.

The family wing of the mansion was nicknamed the Duke's Wing, as it was named after the Duke of Wellington and his visit in 1827. This side of the house also held the Duke's Gallery, where the family housed their famed art collection when not in London.

Gardens

Many statues adorn the grand entrance court outside the house and a wide path leading to an obelisk. This, 127 feet (39 m) high, commemorates the arranged visit of the 1st Duke of Wellington, the national hero who also served as Prime Minister, to the house and the area in 1827.

At its height in the 19th century, the Wynyard Estate occupied 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) (28 km²) in Teesside. The grounds today include a 15-acre (61,000 m²) ornamental lake, a walled garden, two entrance lodges, three cottages, a former racing yard, and productive farmland.

Brief history

The house was started by Benjamin Dean Wyatt and finished by Philip Wyatt for Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, a famous coal magnate and founder of Seaham Harbour. The marquess spent £130,000 (equivalent to £14,826,000in 2023) to build and furnish the home. In 1841, just as the residence was being completed, a fire broke out and gutted the building; it was later restored and remodelled by Ignatius Bonomi.

There had been a house on the site since the Middle Ages, and the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry incorporated parts of an earlier 18th-century building into his home.

In the 19th century, George Vane-Tempest, who became Earl Vane in 1854 and the 5th Marquess of Londonderry in 1872, owned vast estates – 27,000 acres (11,000 ha) in Ireland, and 23,000 acres (9,300 ha) in England and Wales. He also sat in the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament for 26 years. Upon the death of the 5th Marquess in 1884, his eldest son Charles became the 6th Marquess. It was the 6th Marquess's wife, Lady Theresa, who was the model for the famous Lady Roehampton in Vita Sackville-West's The Edwardians.

The estate remained in the Londonderry family until 1987,^[1] although it had been let as a training school for teachers from 1945 until 1960, during which time it lost most of its original contents through sales and breakages.

The estate was sold in 1987 to Sir John Hall, along with 5,000 acres (2,000 ha). Hall spent £4,000,000 to restore the house, hiring Rupert Lord to oversee the restoration; he later moved his company headquarters, as well as his home, into the mansion. The estate, comprising the house and 780 acres (320 ha) of parkland, was listed for sale in July 2002 for £8,000,000 but was never sold. It is now a special event venue owned by the Hall family and, while much of the estate has been given over to residential and light-industrial development, the parkland around the house has been preserved. The original walled garden has also been restored as a tourist attraction and hospitality venue.^[2]

Royal visits

King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (as Prince and Princess of Wales before 1901) were frequent visitors to Wynyard. As King, Edward presided over a meeting of the Privy Council there in 1903 — the first time the Council had met in a house belonging to a subject since 1625.^[3]

King George V also visited as Prince of Wales, including in November 1902.^[4]

Related Research Articles

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.

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.

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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.

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Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry was an 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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vane-Tempest baronets</span>

The Vane, later Vane-Tempest Baronetcy, of Long Newton in the County of Durham, was a title in the Baronetage of Great Britain. The Vane baronetcy was created on 13 July 1782 for Reverend Henry Vane, D.D., second son of George Vane of Long Newton. He was a descendant of Sir Henry Vane the Elder. Vane married Frances Tempest, daughter of John Tempest of Sherburne, Durham. When her brother, John Tempest Sr., died in 1771 naming the baronet's son as his heir, the younger Vane assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Tempest in accordance with his uncle's will. Thus, when the 1st baronet died in 1794, his son became Baronet Vane-Tempest. This second baronet represented both the city and county of Durham in Parliament and was a well-known sportsman. He married Anne MacDonnell, 2nd Countess of Antrim. They had one child Lady Frances Anne, who married Lord Charles Stewart, later 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, who assumed the surname of Vane and in 1823 was named Earl Vane and Viscount Seaham. When Vane-Tempest died in 1813, the baronetcy became extinct.

Lady Mary Elizabeth "Mairi" Bury, known between 1942 and 1958 as Viscountess Bury, was a Northern Irish politician, gardener, aviator, and philatelist.

Theresa Susey Helen Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry was a British socialite and political hostess. She was a leading Unionist campaigner against Irish Home Rule, serving as president of the Ulster Women's Unionist Council from 1913 to 1919. She was said to be one of the most "dominating feminine personalities" of the time and was referred to as the "Queen of Toryism" and a "highwaywoman in a tiara."

References

↑ "Sale of the century as aristocrats auction heirlooms". Daily Telegraph.
↑ Hodgson, Barbara (4 August 2015). "Sir John Hall reveals his blooming lovely £1.6m garden at Wynyard Hall". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
↑ Sir Almeric Fitzroy, Memoirs (London and New York, 1925), vol. I, p. 161.
↑ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36915. London. 3 November 1902. p. 6.

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[1] "Sale of the century as aristocrats auction heirlooms". Daily Telegraph.

[2] Hodgson, Barbara (4 August 2015). "Sir John Hall reveals his blooming lovely £1.6m garden at Wynyard Hall". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 20 November 2020.

[3] Sir Almeric Fitzroy, Memoirs (London and New York, 1925), vol. I, p. 161.

[4] "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36915. London. 3 November 1902. p. 6.

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