Low Walworth is a hamlet in County Durham, England, to the north−west of the edge of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. It consists of Low Walworth Hall, Low Walworth Farm and their respective cottages, flats and outbuildings. Several of these buildings are listed, and date from the 17th to the 19th century. Attached to one of the late-18th-century farm buildings is a '' gin gang'', or building from which a horse powered a threshing machine by walking in a circle. The hall has accommodated at least one

High Sheriff of Durham This is a list of the High Sheriffs of County Durham, England. In most counties the High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. In the Palatinate of Durham the officeholder was appointed by and was accountable to the Bishop of D ...

Low Walworth Hall

The earliest documents recognised by English Heritage in relation to this hall are 1681 Court of Chancery papers, written when the Jenison family owned it. However it has been suggested that part of it dates from around 1500 and that in the early 16th century it was the dower house to Walworth Castle. Low Walworth was sold by

Francis Jenison Count Francis von Jenison zu Walworth ( Francis Jenison) Justice of the Peace, JP (20 January 1732 – 30 June 1799), was a British landowner who settled in the Electoral Palatinate. Early life Jenison was born on 20 January 1732 in Edinburgh, Scot ...

when he moved to the continent in 1775 and was later made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. It is a sizeable 17th- or early-18th-century house with 19th-century additions to the left and rear. It is built of partially rendered coursed rubble and

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

, brickwork chimneys and a

Welsh slate The existence of a slate industry in Wales is attested since the Roman period, when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then expanded rapidly until the ...

roof. The left−hand or western addition to the south−facing main block, with the ball finial on the parapet (''see image''), is 18th-century or earlier and possibly a former barn. The set of early-19th-century outbuildings to the north of the Hall was once a house with stabling and is now a garage and storage building. It has pantiled roofs with stone−flagged

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

, squared limestone walls and brickwork chimneys, and it is listed. The early-19th-century garden walls to the left or west of the Hall are also listed. They are built of hand−made red brick with flat stone coping. They are high walls enclosing three sides of a rose garden with a lower and possibly rebuilt wall on the south side. The eastern wall has a coursed rubble face with an arched doorway in the south−east corner, and the north wall has boarded doors. (Arthur) Neville Eade lived at Low Walworth from 1937 to 1959. He and his cousin, Charles Eade, had bought the Walworth Castle estate at auction in 1931, after the death of the previous owner, their cousin Gerald Percy Vivian Aylmer. However Walworth Castle held prisoners of war in World War II, and was sold to

Durham County Council Durham County Council is a local authority administering all significant local government functions in the unitary authority area of County Durham in North East England. The council area covers part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, e ...

in 1950. In 1968–1969 the resident of the hall was Peter Guy Edwards,

. On 29 June 2008 the gardens, including the old walled garden, were opened to the public for a day. The gardens included an African theme planting and a wildlife lake area.

Low Walworth farm

The late-18th-century farm buildings to the north of the farmhouse are listed. They are made of squared and coursed rubble limestone, and the square−plan building in front of the two−storeyed threshing barn is a gin gang, otherwise known as a wheelhouse or horse engine house from which a horse once powered a threshing machine. The buildings have pantiled roofs with stone−flagged eaves, and the front range has partially−blocked archways.

References

External links

Map of Low Walworth

Image: front view of Low Walworth Hall
{{authority control Villages in County Durham Places in the Borough of Darlington Places in the Tees Valley