Eggleston Hall is a privately owned 19th-century

English country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

Eggleston Eggleston is a village in County Durham, in England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 448. It is situated in Teesdale, a few miles north-west of Barnard Castle. Etymology The second element of ''Eggleston'' is ...

Teesdale Teesdale is a dale, or valley, in Northern England. The dale is in the River Tees’s drainage basin, most water flows stem from or converge into said river, including the Skerne and Leven. Upper Teesdale, more commonly just Teesdale, falls ...

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 II* 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 ...

. Photograph and architectural description.

Overview

The manor of Eggleston was forfeited to the Crown by

Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland (18 August 154216 November 1601) was an English nobleman and one of the leaders of the Rising of the North in 1569. He was the son of Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland and Lady Anne Manners, second d ...

as a consequence of his part in the

Rising of the North The Rising of the North of 1569, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls or Northern Rebellion, was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of ...

in 1569.''An Historical, Topographical and Descriptive View of the County of Durham'' McKenzie and Ross (1834) p225 Google Books It was granted by the Crown to the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

and thereafter passed through several hands until it was acquired by the Hutchinson family early in the 18th century. The house was built in 1817 on the site of the old

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

. It was commissioned by William Hutchinson to a design by architect

Ignatius Bonomi Ignatius Bonomi (1787–1870) was an English architect and surveyor, with Italian origins by his father, strongly associated with Durham in north-east England. Life He was the son of an architect and draughtsman, Joseph Bonomi (1739– ...

. The two-storey house has a recessed two-bayed central block flanked by projecting end bays connected by a

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

. In 1919 the house was acquired by Sir William Cresswell Gray, 1st Baronet, of the shipbuilding firm

William Gray & Company William Gray & Company Ltd. was a British shipbuilding company located in West Hartlepool, County Durham, in North East England. Founded in 1863 by John Denton and William Gray as a partnership, it became a private and then a public limited com ...

. From 1972 to 1991 it was run as a

finishing school A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, wit ...

by Rosemarie Gray, the widow of William Talbot Gray (High Sheriff of Durham in 1971), the son of Sir William Gray Bt., but has been returned to residential use. It is, in 2008, the

family seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families to ...

of Sir William Hume Gray, 3rd Baronet.

The Hutchinson family

William Hutchinson (1763-1826) built Eggleston Hall in about 1817. He was the son of Timothy Hutchinson (1732-1810) who owned the Manor of Eggleston and an existing house on the same site as the present Hall. This previous house was described in 1779 as being white with turrets. When Timothy died in 1810 William inherited the property. Cecil William Hutchinson

William married in 1789 Mary Byam (1772-1826) who was the daughter of the wealthy landowner Martin Byam of

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

. They had no children so when William died in 1826 his younger brother George Peter Hutchinson (1767-1833) inherited the Hall. George obtained a B. A from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. In 1788 he entered the Queens Own Dragoons and rose rapidly through the ranks to become a Major. In 1815 he married Elizabeth Grubb. When he died in 1833 the Hall was inherited by his eldest son William Hutchinson (1816 -1842). He died in 1842 at the age of only 26 and the property was passed to his younger brother Timothy Hutchinson (1818-1904). Timothy lived at Eggleston Hall for the next 62 years. He was born in 1818 and in 1842 married Elizabeth Sophia Wilkinson, the daughter of John Wilkinson of Welton Grange. The couple had four sons and two daughters. The 1881 Census shows Timothy and Elizabeth living at the Hall with some of their children and a butler, a housekeeper, two footmen, a ladies maid, an upper house maid, two house maids, a kitchen maid, two laundry maids and a scullery maid. When Timothy died in 1904 his eldest son Cecil William Hutchinson (1844-1917) inherited the Hall. In 1874 he married Clara Henrietta Frank and the couple had two sons and one daughter. His eldest son Captain William Regis Claude Hutchinson (1875-1961) became the owner of the property in 1917 when Cecil died. In 1919 he advertised the whole 10,000 acres for sale. The advertisement is shown at this reference. The Hall was bought by Sir William Creswell Gray for his son William returning safely from World War I. He was a Captain in the 3rd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment and was mentioned in despatches. He was wounded and became a POWThe Peerage website
Online reference
/ref> so his return was a joyous occasion. The Hall is still owned by the Gray family today.

Filming

The house is not generally open to the public but is available for social and corporate functions by arrangement. The walled gardens and a café / gift shop in the former coach house are open to the public. The

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

series

Ladette to Lady ''Ladette to Lady'' is a reality-based series that aired in the United Kingdom on ITV between June 2005 and August 2010. Overview The second series of ''Ladette to Lady'' was aired in the United Kingdom in October 2006 on ITV. The show had vi ...

used the house as their girls'

References

{{reflist

External links

Eggleston Hall website
Grade II* listed buildings in County Durham Country houses in County Durham History of County Durham