Matfen Hall is a 19th-century country mansion in
Matfen
Matfen is a village and a civil parish in Northumberland, England, near the town of Hexham and the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is an example of a 19th-century planned estate village. It was the birthplace of the 7th Premier of British Colum ...
,
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, the seat of the
Blackett baronets
There have been two baronetcies created for members of the Blackett family, both in the Baronetage of England. One creation is extant as of 2013. The Blackett family can be traced back to the Blacketts/Blakheveds of Woodcroft, County Durham, some ...
and now also a hotel and country golf club. 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 ...
.
The manor of West Matfen was owned in the 13th century by Philip de Ulcote and passed through his sisters to Felton, by marriage to Hastings and later to Lawson. In 1625 the estate was bought by Lancelot Fenwick of a branch of the old-established local family. The manor and manor house, West Matfen High Hall, was sold in 1680 to John Douglas, Town Clerk of Newcastle. His granddaughter and Douglas heiress married
Sir Edward Blackett, Bt., in 1757, thereby bringing the estate into the
Blackett family.
![Golf course at Matfen Hall - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Golf_course_at_Matfen_Hall_-_geograph.org.uk_-_935623.jpg)
The present house was built to replace the old manor, in 1832 for
Sir William Blackett, 6th Baronet. The impressive
Jacobean-style mansion has a three-storey seven-bay entrance front. An important internal feature is a full-height
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
hall.
Between 1965 and 1994 the house was leased out, operating as the Northumberland
Cheshire Home
Leonard Cheshire is a major health and welfare charity working in the United Kingdom and running development projects around the world. It was founded in 1948 by Royal Air Force officer Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC.
Leonard Cheshire's aims ...
.
Sir Hugh Blackett, the 12th Baronet, and Lady Blackett have since converted the hall into a hotel and country club, which opened in 1999. The Blacketts now live at
Halton Castle
Halton Castle is a castle in the village of Halton, part of the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. The castle is on the top of Halton Hill, a sandstone prominence overlooking the village. The original building, a motte-and-bailey castle beg ...
, a few miles west of Matfen.
References
*
* ''History, Topography and Directory of Northumberland'', William Whellan (1855), p. 813, Google Books
Further reading
* {{Cite book, last=Kirtley , first=Allan, Longbottom, Patricia, Blackett, Martin , title=A History of the Blacketts , publisher=(2013) The Blacketts , url=http://www.theblacketts.com/articles/187-how-to-order-your-copy-of--a-history-of-the-blacketts , isbn=978-0-9575675-0-4 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140623140437/http://www.theblacketts.com/articles/187-how-to-order-your-copy-of--a-history-of-the-blacketts , archivedate=2014-06-23 , year=2013
External links
Matfen Hall Hotel
Grade II* listed buildings in Northumberland
Country houses in Northumberland
Hotels in Northumberland
Golf clubs and courses in Northumberland
Thomas Rickman buildings
Country house hotels
Hall
In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...