Roddam Hall is a privately owned 18th-century country house near

Wooler Wooler ( ) is a small town in Northumberland, England. It lies on the edge of the Northumberland National Park, near the Cheviot Hills. It is a popular base for walkers and is referred to as the "Gateway to the Cheviots". As well as many shops ...

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 ...

. 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 Ir ...

. Keys to the Past
/ref> The Roddams, an ancient Northumbrian family, held lands at Roddam in ancient times.'' Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland'' (Vol 1 (1835) p 675 Google Books A survey of 1541 reported a decaying

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

without a

barmkin Barmkin, also spelled barmekin or barnekin, is a Scots word which refers to a form of medieval and later defensive enclosure, typically found around smaller castles, tower houses, pele towers, and bastle houses in Scotland and the north of Engl ...

owned by John Roddam. The Roddams lived at Houghton in Northumberland until the early 18th century, when Edward Roddam sold the Houghton estate and built a new three-storey five-bayed house at Roddam. From 1776 the house was owned by Admiral

Robert Roddam Robert Roddam (1719 – 31 March 1808) was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, and the American War of Independence. He survived to see the French Revolutionary and N ...

. He was a brother-in-law of General Sir

Henry Clinton (1730–1795) General Sir Henry Clinton, KB (16 April 1730 – 23 December 1795) was a British Army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1772 and 1795. He is best known for his service as a general during the American War of Indepe ...

. On his death the estate passed to a distant cousin, William Spencer Stanhope, who changed his name to Roddam. He was

High Sheriff of Northumberland This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Northumberland. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries ...

in 1834. Roddam was remodelled in the early 1970s by the noted neo-classical architect Tom Bird (of Bird & Tyler Associates). Bird took off the top storey (a late, unattractive addition to the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

original) and dramatically reworked the interior. In 2012 Roddam Hall was sold by Lord Vinson to Lord James Percy, younger brother of the

Duke of Northumberland Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke o ...

.''The Journal'' (Newcastle) online

References

{{reflist Grade II listed buildings in Northumberland