Beamish Hall is a mid 18th century country house, now converted to a hotel, which stands in 24 acres (97,124.6 m²) of grounds near the town of Stanley, County Durham

Stanley, County Durham

Stanley is a former colliery town and civil parish in County Durham, England. Centred on a hilltop between Chester-le-Street and Consett, the town lies south west of Gateshead....

. It is a Grade II* listed building.

History

The history of Beamish Hall can be traced back to the Norman Conquest. The name of Beamish, is derived from a corruption of the Norman word 'Beauvis', meaning beautiful place, or the old French phrase 'bew-mys' which when translated means 'beautiful mansion

Mansion

A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...

'.

Originally built as a present in 1268 for the wedding of Isabella de la Leigh and Guiscard de Charron, the Manor went on to be occupied by five generations of Charrons and later Monbouchers. The last family member died in 1400. During the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, the fortified manor was occupied by various local aristocrat

Aristocracy (class)

The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...

s, including members of the Percy family.

The manor of Beamish was forfeited to the Crown by Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland

Earl of Northumberland

The title of Earl of Northumberland was created several times in the Peerages of England and Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders were the House of Percy , who were the most powerful noble family in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages...

 as a consequence of his part in the Rising of the North

Rising of the North

The Rising of the North of 1569, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls or Northern Rebellion, was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots.-Background:When Elizabeth I succeeded her...

 in 1569. A manor house (on the site of which the present house was later built), was built in the early 17th century probably by the Wray family.

In 1683 the manor was purchased by Timothy Davison a wealthy Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

 merchant. He was the Mayor of Newcastle in 1673 and a governor of the merchants company of Newcastle. His family consisted of eleven sons and five daughters. In 1714 his eldest surviving son, William, married Dulcibella (the daughter of John Morton, Rector of Sedgefield

Sedgefield

Sedgefield is a small town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It has a population of 4,534.Sedgefield has attracted particular attention as the Member of Parliament for the wider Sedgefield constituency was the former Prime Minister Tony Blair; he was the area's MP from 1983 to 2008,...

 and Dulcibella Naylor). In 1739 their eldest daughter Mary Davison, then heiress of the estate, married Sir Robert Eden, 3rd Baronet

Eden Baronets

The Eden Baronetcy, of West Auckland in the County of Durham, and the Eden Baronetcy, of Maryland in North America, are two titles in the Baronetage of England and Baronetage of Great Britain respectively that have been united under a single holder since 1844.The Eden Baronetcy of West Auckland was...

 of Windlestone Hall

Windlestone Hall

Windlestone Hall is a 19th century country house in the ownership of Durham County Council, situated near Rushyford, County Durham, England. It is a Listed building....

.

The Hall was built in the mid 18th century to replace the old manor. The original three storeyed seven bayed main front was soon extended by the addition of a further three bays.

In 1803 Catherine Eden, a daughter of Sir John Eden 4th Baronet, married Robert Eden Duncombe Shafto

Robert Eden Duncombe Shafto

Robert Eden Duncombe Shafto of Whitworth Hall, Spennymoor, County Durham, was a British politician. He was Member of Parliament for the City of Durham from 1804 to 1806. He served as High Sheriff of County Durham in 1842.-Sources:...

 of Whitworth Hall, County Durham

Whitworth Hall, County Durham

Whitworth Hall which stands in Whitworth Hall Country Park, near Spennymoor, County Durham England, is a country house, formerly the home of the Shafto family and now a hotel. It is a listed building....

 . In 1904 their grandson Rev Slingsby Duncombe Shafto inherited the estate and thereupon took Eden as an additional surname. He was High Sheriff of Durham in 1908.

The Edens added a rear block to the house in 1813 and substantial further alterations and additions were made in 1897 and 1910 including an entrance porch with six Ionic order

Ionic order

The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...

 columns, ballrooms and a winter garden.

In 1949 following the death of Robert Shafto, the property was sold to the National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

 and the family moved to Bavington Hall

Bavington Hall

Bavington Hall is a 17th-century privately owned country house at Little Bavington in Northumberland. It is a Grade II* listed building.A tower house was recorded on the site in 1415, but this was replaced in the late 17th century by the Shafto family.The Shaftos acquired the estate when William...

. In 1969 the house was acquired by Durham County Council and from then until 1995 it was occupied by a Local Education Authority residential school. After being declared surplus to the council's needs, the Hall stood empty until August 2000. Later in that year it was again sold and was refurbished by new owners and converted into a hotel.

Beamish Museum

Beamish Museum

Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum is an open-air museum located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, County Durham, England. The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early...

 now occupies part of the parkland in which the house stands. The hall is nearing the end of a renovation, which intends to restore the ancestral home to its original splendour. The grounds of the hall have also been themed, as 'Beamish Wild', to appeal to families; with aerial rope courses and a bird of prey conservation area, which includes vulture

Vulture

Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...

s, eagle

Eagle

Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...

s and owl

Owl

Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...

s amongst other species.