Gainford Hall is a privately owned Jacobean manor house at

Gainford, County Durham Gainford or Gainford on Tees is a village on the north bank of the River Tees in County Durham, England. It is half-way between Barnard Castle and Darlington, near Winston, at OS map reference NZ 1716. History In Anglo-Saxon times, Gainford wa ...

. 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 ...

but as of 2014 is registered as a Building at Risk. The house was built about 1603 to a design possibly by architect

Robert Smythson Robert Smythson (1535 – 15 October 1614) was an English architect. Smythson designed a number of notable houses during the Elizabethan era. Little is known about his birth and upbringing—his first mention in historical records comes in 155 ...

for Rev John Cradock, Vicar of Gainford. The upper storey was never fully completed internally and the east wing staircase was not built. The property was much restored in the 19th century. Cradock was appointed

Archdeacon of Northumberland The Archdeacon of Northumberland is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Newcastle. As such she or he is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within the geographical area of the archdeaconry. History The firs ...

in 1604 and Chancellor to the

Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

in 1619. William Cradock bought an estate at

Hartforth Hartforth is a small village in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated approximately south-west from the market town of Darlington, and is part of the civil parish of Gilling with Hartforth and Sedbury ...

, near

Richmond, Yorkshire Richmond is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, and the administrative centre of the district of Richmondshire. Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is from the county town of Northallerton and situated on t ...

in 1720 and thereafter junior members of the family lived at Gainford. Marmaduke Cradock died at the Hall at the age of 90 in 1836. A 17th-century

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

in the grounds is Grade II listed and also a Building at Risk. The present owners Raby Estates have restored the old coach house and converted it to residential use.

References

Keys to the Past
* ''The Antiquities of Gainford'', John Richard Walbran (1846)

External links

* Grade I listed buildings in County Durham Buildings and structures in Durham, England Manor houses in England Jacobean architecture in the United Kingdom Structures on the Heritage at Risk register Gainford, County Durham {{Durham-struct-stub