Doxford House is an 18th-century

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

in the

Silksworth Silksworth is a suburb of the City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. The area can be distinguished into two parts, old Silksworth, the original village and township which has existed since the early middle ages, and New Silksworth, the industrial ...

area of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

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 ...

. It is a Grade II* listed building. Formerly known as

House, it was constructed in 1775–1780 by William Johnson who on his death in 1792 bequeathed the property to his friend Hendry Hopper. In 1831 Priscilla Hopper, then heiress to the estate, married

William Beckwith General William Beckwith, KCH (1795 – 23 February 1871) was a general in the British Army. He was the eldest son of William Beckwith of Trimdon, County Durham. Career In 1813 he enlisted as a cornet in the 16th Light Dragoons and served with ...

of Thurcroft. He was

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 ...

in 1857. The Beckwiths moved to Shropshire in about 1890 and the house was let out. In 1902, Charles David Doxford of

William Doxford & Sons William Doxford & Sons Ltd, often referred to simply as Doxford, was a British shipbuilding and marine engineering company. History William Doxford founded the company in 1840. From 1870 it was based in Pallion, Sunderland, on the River Wea ...

, brother of

Theodore Doxford Sir William Theodore Doxford (1 February 1841 – 1 October 1916) was a British shipbuilder and politician. Early life Doxford was born at Bridge Street (leading to Wearmouth Bridge) in Bishopwearmouth, County Durham, on 1 February 1841. He wa ...

, took out a 99-year lease on the estate. On his death in 1935, his daughter, Aline, bought out the lease. On her death in 1968, she bequeathed the house and estate to Sunderland Corporation who gave the house its present name and turned the gardens into Doxford Park. In 1989, the house became a students’ hall of residence for Sunderland University and from about 2000 to 2006 was occupied by the ''Lazarus Foundation'', a drug rehabilitation charity. It was later converted into a private home.

References

External links

The Friends of Doxford Park
Grade II* listed buildings in Tyne and Wear Buildings and structures in the City of Sunderland Sunderland {{TyneandWear-struct-stub