Kirkharle Hall was a country house at

Kirkharle Kirkharle (otherwise Kirk Harle) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Kirkwhelpington, in the county of Northumberland in Northern England located about west of the town of Morpeth, just to the west of the crossroads of the ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the former seat of the Loraine family, now much reduced and in use as a farmhouse. The Hall is in the upper reaches of the Wansbeck valley; almost adjacent to the

A696 road The A696 is a major road in Northern England, that runs from Otterburn in Northumberland to Newcastle upon Tyne. Route The A696 begins at a junction with the A68 road (to Edinburgh and Corbridge). It heads in a south-easterly direction throug ...

; west of

Morpeth Morpeth may refer to: *Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia ** Electoral district of Morpeth, a former electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in New South Wales * Morpeth, Ontario, Canada * Morpeth, Northumberland, England, UK ** Morpeth (UK ...

; and southeast of

Kirkwhelpington Kirkwhelpington is a village and civil parish in the English county of Northumberland about northeast of Hexham. It is on the River Wansbeck alongside the A696 trunk road between Otterburn and Ponteland. History Kirkwhelpington has mediev ...

History

Kirkharle name was first recorded, as Herle in 1177,The Place-names of Northumberland and Durham, Cambridge University Press, pp. 128 and derives either from the Old English "Herela-lea" which means "Herela's Grove" or from the Old English "herg-lea" which means "temple-grove" a place of worship for the pre-Christian

Angles The Angles ( ang, Ængle, ; la, Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name ' ...

.Beckensall, Stan. 'Northumbrian Place-Names: A Guide To The Meaning of Town And Village Names'. Butler Publishing 2004. . Page 37 Other early forms included Kyrkeherle (c.1250), Kyrkherll (1346) and Kirkehirle (1428), the "kirk" element denoting a "church." The

Loraine Baronets The Loraine Baronetcy, of Kirk Harle in the County of Northumberland, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 26 September 1664 for Thomas Loraine, High Sheriff of Northumberland. The second Baronet was Member of Parliament ...

acquired the manor by marriage from the De Harles, who owned it in the 14th century, and derived their name (literally "of Harle") from the village. Following its sale to a local farmer in the early 19th century the Hall was largely demolished. Only one wing was retained which was rebuilt as a farmhouse. 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 ...

. Nearby stands a memorial stone erected in 1728 to replace an earlier memorial commemorating Robert Loraine who was killed by marauding Scots in 1483. Among the quaint epitaphs in the church upon departed Loraines is the following: ''Here lyes the Body of Richard Loraine, Esq., who was a proper handsome man of good sense and behaviour : he dy'd a Batcheler of an Appoplexy walking in a green field near London, October 26th, 1738, in the 38 Year of his Age.'' The surrounding parkland was designed in the 18th century by

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

who was born at

and who began his career as a gardener in the park. The park is a Registered Historic Park Grade II. The present owner has redeveloped the farm and its outbuildings to create Kirkharle Courtyard, a development incorporating historical, retail and craft centres.

References

Country houses in Northumberland Grade II listed buildings in Northumberland Gardens by Capability Brown {{Northumberland-geo-stub