Crook Hall, sited near

Lanchester, County Durham Lanchester is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England, west of Durham and from Consett. It had a population at the 2011 Census of 4,054. Although there was a small drift mine on the edge of the village which closed in the 1970 ...

, some north west of the city of Durham, was one of two Roman Catholic seminaries which temporarily replaced the Douai seminary in Douai, France when that college was suppressed soon after the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. Crook Hall was itself superseded after a few years by

Ushaw College Ushaw College (formally St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw), is a former Roman Catholic Church, Catholic seminary near the village of Ushaw Moor, County Durham, England, which is now a heritage and cultural tourist attraction. The college is known for ...

History

The hall had belonged to the Baker family since 1635, when it was purchased by George Baker, Knt., the second son of Oswald Baker of Durham. George Baker served as a

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

of Newcastle-on-Tyne and was a defender of that town for King Charles. His son George inherited the estate in 1667. George Baker MP, grandson of the original owner and member of parliament for Durham City, remodelled the house in 1716. When the Douai Catholic seminary closed in 1793 the students were hastily brought back to England with the intention of creating a new seminary there. The refugee students were divided into two groups, one of which (mainly composed of students who were destined for the Northern Vicariate) moved on 15 October 1794 into Crook Hall, which had been leased from George Baker. The mansion was at that time unoccupied since Baker had moved his primary residence to

Elemore Hall Elemore Hall is a mid-18th-century country house, now in use as a residential special school, near Pittington, County Durham, England. It is a Grade I listed building. History The manor of Elemore was owned prior to the Dissolution of the Mon ...

.''Records and Recollections of St. Cuthbert's College Ushaw'', Preston, E. Buller and Son, 1889, p. 68 They studied under the guidance of Thomas Eyre, one of the former professors,

John Lingard John Lingard (5 February 1771 – 17 July 1851) was an English Roman Catholic priest and historian, the author of ''The History of England, From the First Invasion by the Romans to the Accession of Henry VIII'', an eight-volume work published i ...

, the future historian and John Daniel, the president of Douai at its suppression. After ten years Crook Hall proved inadequate and in 1804 Bishop William Gibson began the building of

at nearby Ushaw Moor, to which the college transferred in 1808. The local village of

Crookhall Crookhall is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated between Consett and Delves Lane. It is named after Crook Hall which once stood nearby. History Crookhall village was created in about 1844 when George Baker, MP of Crook Ha ...

developed as coal and iron ore deposits were exploited. The hall was purchased by the Consett Iron Company in 1877 and demolished circa 1900.

References

Catholic seminaries Buildings and structures in County Durham Consett {{RC-stub