Gibside is an estate in the Derwent Valley in North East England. It is between

Rowlands Gill Rowlands Gill is a town situated along the A694, between Winlaton Mill and Hamsterley Mill, on the north bank of the River Derwent, in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Within Gateshead's greenbelt, the town has a ...

, in Tyne and Wear, and

Burnopfield Burnopfield is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated north of Stanley and Annfield Plain, close to the River Derwent and is 564 feet above sea level. There are around 4,553 inhabitants in Burnopfield. It is located 7 miles from ...

, in County Durham, and a few miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Gibside was previously owned by the

Bowes-Lyon The Bowes-Lyon family descends from George Bowes of Gibside and Streatlam Castle ''(1701–1760)'', a County Durham landowner and politician, through John Bowes, 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, chief of the Clan Lyon. Following the marri ...

family. It is now a

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

property. Gibside Hall, the main house on the estate, is now a shell, although the property is most famous for its chapel. The stables,

walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate ...

, Column to Liberty and

Banqueting House In English architecture, mainly from the Tudor period onwards, a banqueting house is a separate pavilion-like building reached through the gardens from the main residence, whose use is purely for entertaining, especially eating. Or it may be b ...

are also intact.

History

The Blakiston family acquired the estate by marriage in about 1540. Sir William Blakiston (1562–1641) replaced the old house with a spacious mansion between 1603 and 1620. Both the Royal (

King James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

) coat of arms and the Blakiston coat of arms are seen over the entrance of the old Hall. The Gibside property came into the possession of the Bowes family in 1713; a result of the marriage in 1693 of Sir William's great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Blakiston, to Sir William Bowes (1657–1707) of

Streatlam Castle Streatlam Castle was a Baroque stately home located near the town of Barnard Castle in County Durham, England, that was demolished in 1959. Owned by the Bowes-Lyon family, Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne, the house was one of the family's thre ...

(now demolished). Until 1722, the basis of the Bowes' influence was their own estate and house of Streatlam Castle, County Durham. However, after that date the acquisition through marriage of the Blakiston estate of Gibside gave the Bowes family an even greater influence in the north of the county and a share in the immense wealth that was to be acquired from the coal trade. The Blakiston estate included some of the area's richest coal seams. In 1767 the granddaughter of Sir William Bowes – the "Bowes heiress"

Mary Eleanor Bowes Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (24 February 1749 – 28 April 1800) was a notable member of the British aristocracy during the Georgian period (18th century). Referred to by some as "The Unhappy Countess", she was a ...

– married John Lyon, 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, who changed his surname to Bowes due to a provision in her father's will that any suitor had to take the family name. This was a device to continue the Bowes lineage in the absence of a male heir. After the split inheritance dispute following the death of

John Bowes, 10th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne John Bowes, 10th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (14 April 1769 – 3 July 1820) was a Scottish nobleman and peer. He was the eldest son of John Bowes, 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and Mary Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. ...

, in 1820, it belonged to his legitimated son John Bowes until his death in 1885 (he is buried in the Gibside chapel), when under the

entail In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise alien ...

it reverted to his cousin the 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. It had been the main residence of John Bowes' mother, Mary Milner, by then Dowager Countess of Strathmore, and her second husband, the politician Sir William Hutt (who had been John Bowes' tutor), and remained in his ownership until his death in 1882.

18th-century additions

Improvements to Gibside carried out by the

family in the 18th and early 19th centuries included landscaping, Gibside Chapel, built between 1760 and 1812, the

, a column of

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, a substantial stable block, an avenue of oaks and several hundred acres of forest. The top floor of the main house was remodelled as a giant

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

in 1805. The chapel reflects the

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

leanings of the family, and though nominally Anglican, the interior is dominated by a huge and centrally placed "three-decker" pulpit. There is a house for the minister/chaplain nearby. Some holders of the position would not have been able to hold a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

parish living, on account of their views. The leading

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

architect James Paine is attributed with most of the work of the 1750s and 1760s. The

was built in 1746, and is an early example of

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th cent ...

, of the early form often called "Gothick". It has now been restored and is available for letting by the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British architectural conservation, building conservation charitable organization, charity, founded in 1965 by John Smith (Conservative politician), Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or ...

, who now own it.

Column to British Liberty

A large monument, originally called the "Column of British Liberty", now usually just the "Column to Liberty", was begun in the 1750s by the hugely wealthy Sir

George Bowes Sir George Bowes (21 August 1701 – 17 September 1760) was an English coal proprietor and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons for 33 years from 1727 to 1760. George Bowes was baptized on 4 September 1701, the youngest son of Sir ...

, reflecting his Whig politics. Set at the top of a steep hillock, the monument itself is a

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of c ...

column, and topped by a standing bronze female figure, originally gilded, carrying a cap of liberty on a pole.

Later history

The Bowes-Lyon family had other major country houses,

Glamis Castle Glamis Castle is situated beside the village of Glamis (, ) in Angus, Scotland. It is the home of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and is open to the public. Glamis Castle has been the home of the Lyon family since the 14th century, thoug ...

in Scotland, and

, County Durham, relatively close to Gibside. The house became vacant in the 1920s after the Bowes-Lyon family sold some of its properties to pay

death duties An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...

. The building was stripped of its fixtures and fittings, with many of the fireplaces and other items being transferred to Glamis Castle. Parts of the structure were demolished in 1958, including the removal of the roof. What remains is protected by

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 ...

status and included in the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

. Parts of the grounds have been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, including a forest garden. The chapel and Long Walk have been in the National Trust's ownership since 1965, and an additional of the grounds were acquired in 1993. The Banqueting House has been in the ownership of the

since 1981, the building having been restored from a derelict shell. The stables now house a learning and discovery centre.

Women's Land Army The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the W ...

girls were billeted at Gibside during World War I.

Gallery

File:Gibside Banqueting House.jpg, The Banqueting House File:The Banqueting House, Gibside, side and front view - geograph.org.uk - 514906.jpg, Another view File:Gibside Estate Monument - geograph.org.uk - 240856.jpg, The Column to Liberty File:Gibside Column to Liberty pic 2 (cropped).JPG, The top of the column, the figure seen from behind. File:Gibside Chapel interior 2018 - pulpit.jpg, Centrally-placed three-decker pulpit at Gibside Chapel, a private chapel on the Calvinist edge of Anglicanism. File:Gibside Chapel interior 2018.jpg, Interior of the Chapel File:Gibside Long Walk pic 2.JPG, The Column to Liberty can be seen from the porch of Gibside Chapel File:Gibside Orangerie pic 1.JPG, Shell of the

Orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...

File:Gibside Stables pic 3.JPG, The Stables File:Gibside Stables pic 1.JPG, Side of the Stable block

References

External links

Gibside information at the National Trust3D model of Gibside Chapel
{{SSSIs Tyne and Wear Grade II listed buildings in Tyne and Wear Country houses in Tyne and Wear National Trust properties in Tyne and Wear Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Tyne and Wear Parks and open spaces in Tyne and Wear