WIN-yard

England

Stockton-on-Tees

County Durham

Wynyard

54.63237

-1.33765

1822

Partially Extant

Burned 1841

Grade II*

Grade II*

No

By Appointment

01740-644-811

01740-644-769

Corporation

Conference Center

The Estate is today (2008) owned by Wynyard Hall Ltd., a Hall family company. The House available for private functions, and is also the private home of the Hall family.

Sir John Hall and his son, Douglas Hall

Marquess of Londonderry, Earl Vane, Viscount Castlereagh, Viscount Seaham, Vane-Tempest-Stewart family.

An earlier 18th century house on the site was incorporated into the existing house. There has been a house on this site since the Middle Ages.

3rd Marquess of Londonderry

Wynyard is a large house - the Entrance Front is 13 bays with a 6-column giant Corinthian portico. The mansion was started by Benjamin Wyatt and completed by Philip Wyatt for the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, a famous coal magnate and founder of Seaham Harbor. The Marquess spent the then-enormous sum of £130,000 to build and furnish the House. In 1841, just as the mansion was being completed, a fire broke out and gutted the house; it was later restored and remodeled. There had been a house on the site since the Middle Ages, and the 3rd Marquess incorporated parts of an earlier 18th century building into his house. The Entrance Hall has a coffered segmental tunnel vault with apses at both ends. The main octagonal center hall extends the full height of the House and has a dome with caryatids around it and a skylight. There is also a mirrored Drawing Room with a gilded and painted ceiling, and a Ballroom. In the 19th century Sir George Vane-Tempest, who became Earl Vane in 1854 and the 5th Marquess of Londonderry in 1872, owned vast estates: 27,000 acres in Ireland and 23,000 acres in England and Wales; he also sat in the House of Commons as an MP for 26 years. Upon the death of the 5th Marquess in 1884 his eldest son, Charles, became the 6th Marquess; it was the 6th Marquess's wife, Lady Londonderry, who was the model for the famous Lady Roehampton in Vita Sackville-West's "The Edwardians." The Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) were frequent visitors to Wynyard. The Estate remained in the Londonderry family until 1987, though it was let as a training school for teachers from 1945 until 1960, during which time it lost most of its original contents. The Estate was sold in 1987 to Sir John Hall, along with 5,000 acres. Sir John spent £4 million to restore the house, hiring Rupert Lord to oversee the restoration; he later moved his company headquarters, as well as his home, into the mansion. Sir John was chairman and majority shareholder of Newcastle United football club. In 1993, when he retired, Sir John passed the House on to his son, Douglas, but continued to live in a smaller wing. In Mar 2002 3,000 acres of the Estate were sold for about £10 million when the family company, Cameron Hall Developments, had financial problems (Wynyard Hall Golf Course had also been sold). In July 2002, the House and 780 acres of parkland, were listed for sale for £8 million, but failed to sell. In Dec 2002 further lands were sold. Other areas of the Estate are being developed into business parks, residential housing, and golf courses, with the 500-acre Wynyard Business Park being sold in 2005. In 2007 the Hall family, having revitalized the House's public rooms, embarked on the long-term restoration of the House's grounds and landscape as part of opening the House for private functions and public events, and possibly eventually converting it into a 200-bedroom hotel, conference center, and golf course.

The Londonderry silver was sold to the Royal Pavilion, Brighton for £250,000. Bernardo Bellotto’s two "Views of the Castle of Königstein" were purchased by the Manchester City Art Galleries. A large portrait painted in 1904 by John Singer Sargent entitled "Charles Stewart, Sixth Marquess of Londonderry, Carrying the Great Sword of State at the Coronation of King Edward VII, August, 1902, and Mr. W. C. Beaumont, His Page on That Occasion" and formerly in the Ballroom at Londonderry House is today in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; it was acquired by the Museum in 2003.

Pevsner, in "The Buildings of England: County Durham," calls Wynyard "the most splendid 19th century mansion in the county."

Still extant in the grounds is an obelisk, 127 feet high, commemorating the visit of the Duke of Wellington in 1827. At its height in the 19th century, the Wynyard Estate occupied 7,000 acres in Teeside. The grounds today include a 15-acre lake, a walled garden, 2 Entrance Lodges, 3 cottages, a former racing yard, and productive farmland.

The Chapel burned in the 19th century and was restored by an architect by the name of Brooks. In was redone again in 1903-05.

"The Aristocracy" (1997 - BBC TV documentary mini series).