Croxdale Hall is a privately owned country mansion situated at

Croxdale Croxdale is a village in the civil parish of Croxdale and Hett, situated about south of Durham City, in County Durham , England and on the A167 road, formerly part of the Great North Road. It is on the route of the East Coast Main Line and at on ...

near Sunderland Bridge,

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. It is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Ownership

The staunchly

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Salvin family came to

by the marriage in 1402 of Gerard Salvin of

Harswell Harswell is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is approximately west of Market Weighton town centre, south of Pocklington town centre, and west of the A614 road. It forms part of the civil parish of Everingham. In 1823 ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, to Agnes de Rissaby, heiress of Croxdale. They have held the property ever since. Records of the Salvin family are held by

Durham County Record Office The Durham County Record Office holds the archives for county Durham and the Borough of Darlington. The archives are held at County Hall, Durham, and the service is run by Durham County Council. Collection Policy The Record Office is the a ...

History of the house

The house originally in

Tudor style Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

dates from the 17th century but major alterations in about 1760 were carried out probably to designs by architect

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, including the two storey seven bay west entrance front. The impressive internal

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

plasterwork dates from this time. A three-walled garden and lakes were laid out in the mid-18th century, creating a pleasure ground through which the family could demonstrate their wealth and status with the exotic plants they acquired through their gardener John Kennedy (1719–90) and his

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

based nurseryman brother Lewis Kennedy (1721–82) and his business partner James Lee (1715–95).

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

have raised concerns about the conditions of the gardens. Further alterations to the house by architect

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

in about 1807 included the addition of a five bay south wing and the insertion of a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

-style Roman Catholic chapel into the 18th century north wing. A disused 12th-century chapel which stands in the grounds is a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

and also a

. It was in use as a

Chapel of Ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

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Elvet Elvet is an area of the city of Durham, in County Durham, in England. It is situated on the opposite side of the River Wear from Durham Cathedral and forms the south-eastern part of central Durham. Elvet is currently unparished. Historically, ...

, until the new parish church of St Bartholomew was built by the Salvins in 1845. The chapel is on

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

's Buildings At Risk register and is deemed to be in poor condition, particularly due to severe damp. Also in the grounds is an 18th-century house (

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

) which housed the priests who served as

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

s to the Salvin family.

Twentieth and Twenty First Century

The house served as a military hospital 1940-1945 and thereafter as a maternity home until at least 1954. More recently the Hall has been restored as a family home. The house is open the public only by appointment (see the ''Visit North East England'' reference for details).

References

External links

* * Architectural description of listed building.
Keys to the Past

''History of the County of Durham'' (1928) Vol 3 pp157-174 from British History on Line

''Visit North East England'' entry on Croxdale Hall
{{coord, 54.735, -1.575, display=title Country houses in County Durham Grade I listed buildings in County Durham