Newbrough Hall is an early 19th-century country house at

Newbrough Newbrough is a village in Northumberland, England, on the north bank of the River South Tyne about north-west of Hexham. History Newbrough is the site of one of the line of Roman forts along the original northern frontier of the Roman Stanega ...

, about west of Hexham,

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 ...

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 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 ...

. Newbrough was anciently part of the Manor of Thornton. The medieval

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 ...

known as Thornton Tower was reported to be in a state of decay in a survey in 1541. The Grade II listed building is now completely ruinous. The estate was held by John Armstrong in 1692 and by John Bacon in the early 18th century. By due descent the property passed to Bacon's great grandson, the Reverend Henry Wastell, in 1811. Wastell built a new house adjacent to the old tower, to a design by architect John Dobson in 1812. The estate later passed to his daughter and her husband of 1901, Colonel Coulson. They commissioned architect Francis William Deas (1862–1951) to modernise the house in 1902. The resulting two-storey house, with five bays of which the central was

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

ed, was extended with two rear wings attached to the 1813 coach house to create a central courtyard. The house was equipped with electricity for which purpose a detached power house was erected in the grounds. (The power house, now a separate dwelling, is Grade II listed). Coulson's daughter married Walter Benson,

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 1917. William Archer Benson was High Sheriff in 1951. The Benson family remained in residence until 1999. The house is occupied by their descendants who offer holiday accommodation.

References

* ''A History of Northumberland'', John Hodgson (1840) Pt 2 Vol 3 p390.
English Heritage: Heritage Gateway, architectural description of listed building, Newbrough Hall
*
Keys to the Past, photograph
{Dead link, date=April 2020 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Grade II* listed buildings in Northumberland Country houses in Northumberland