Seaton Delaval Hall

{{Short description|Grade I listed building in Northumberland, United Kingdom}}

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| image_caption = View from the north

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| location = Seaton Delaval, Northumberland

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| location_city = Newcastle upon Tyne

| location_country = England

| coordinates = {{Coord|55.0822|-1.4965|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}

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| current_tenants = National Trust

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| start_date = 1718

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| completion_date = 1728

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| architect = Sir John Vanbrugh
(for Admiral George Delaval)

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Seaton Delaval Hall is a Grade I listed country house in Northumberland, England, near the coast just north of Newcastle upon Tyne. Located between Seaton Sluice and Seaton Delaval, it was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1718 for Admiral George Delaval; it is now owned by the National Trust.{{NHLE |num=1041321|desc=The Hall |accessdate=17 May 2009}}Hart, Vaughan (2003). '"A Pretty Impudent Countenance": John Vanbrugh’s Seaton Delaval', Architectural Research Quarterly, vol.7 no.3/4, pp.311-23. Hart, Vaughan (2008). Sir John Vanbrugh: Storyteller in Stone, London and New Haven: Yale University Press.

Since completion of the house in 1728, it has had an unfortunate history. Neither architect nor patron lived to see its completion; it then passed through a succession of heirs, being lived in only intermittently. Most damaging of all, in 1822 the central block was gutted by fire, and has remained an empty shell ever since.

The 18th-century gardens of the hall are Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.{{NHLE|num=1001052|desc=Seaton Delaval|access-date=9 January 2018|mode=cs2}}

History

=Early history=

The Delaval family had owned the estate since the time of the Norman Conquest. Admiral George Delaval bought the estate from an impoverished kinsman, Sir John Delaval, in 1717.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXPqAAAAMAAJ |title=The country houses of Sir John Vanbrugh|first= Jeremy|last= Musson|year=2008|publisher=Aurum |page=129|isbn=978-1845130978}} George Delaval had made his fortune from capturing prize ships while in the Navy, and had also served as a British envoy during the reign of Queen Anne.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1276696|title=Admiral George Delaval, MP (bap.1668 – 1723)|publisher=National Trust Collections|access-date=22 February 2024}} In 1718, he called on architect Sir John Vanbrugh to advise him on how to modernise and enhance the existing mansion. Upon viewing the site, Vanbrugh felt he could do nothing, and advised complete demolition of all except the ancient chapel near to the mansion, which is now the parish church of Our Lady.{{NHLE|desc=Church of Our Lady|num=1041317|access-date=22 February 2024}}

Vanbrugh's advice was taken and the construction work was completed in 1728,{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/articles/2005/07/04/coast05walks_stage6_walk.shtml | title=Tyne – Coast – Point 6 – the Gay Delavals|publisher=BBC| access-date=22 February 2024 }} five years after the death of the Admiral. The resulting new mansion was the last country house Vanbrugh designed, and it is regarded as one of his finest works.{{cite web | url=https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/place/seaton-delaval-hall | title=Seaton Delaval Hall|publisher=National Trust Collections|access-date=23 February 2024 }} On completion, the Admiral's nephew Francis Blake Delaval (the elder) inherited the property, and moved in immediately.{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/delaval-francis-1692-1752|title=DELAVAL, Francis (1692-1752), of Ford Castle, Seaton Delaval and Dissington, Northumb., and Doddington, Lincs.|publisher=History of Parliament Online|accessdate=24 January 2018}}

File:Painting of the South Front of Seaton Delaval Hall.jpg. The southwest wing at left may never have been built; the southeast wing at right was destroyed by fire in 1822.]]

In 1775, the Newcastle portrait artist William Bell made two paintings of the Hall, depicting the north and south fronts with some artistic licence, including wings that were never actually constructed. Bell also painted portraits of many of the residents of the house at the time, earning him the patronage of Lord Delaval, a younger son of the above-mentioned Francis Blake Delaval.{{cite web |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artists/bell-william-17401804 |title=William Bell paintings |author= |website=Art UK |accessdate=20 November 2013 |archive-date=17 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817033143/https://artuk.org/discover/artists/bell-william-17401804 |url-status=dead }}

In 1822, the central block was gutted by a fire said to have been caused by jackdaws nesting in the chimneys of the section of the south-east wing closest to the main house.{{cite web|url=http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/historical-twist-nesting-birds-hold-7252439|title=Historical twist as nesting birds hold up Seaton Delaval Hall work|author=Tony Henderson|date=11 June 2014|work=journallive|accessdate=6 December 2015|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305232214/http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/historical-twist-nesting-birds-hold-7252439|url-status=dead}} The house was partially restored by the architect John Dobson between 1862 and 1863, when the central block was re-roofed, although it remained a shell internally.

During the Second World War the hall was used to house German prisoners-of-war.{{cite news|url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/see-inside-seaton-delaval-halls-15153935|title=See inside Seaton Delaval Hall's 'mystery' East Wing which is closed to the public|newspaper=Newcastle Chronicle|date=14 September 2018|access-date=22 February 2024}}

=More modern times=

The hall was opened to the public for the first time in 1950.{{cite web | url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/north-east/seaton-delaval-hall/the-history-of-seaton-delaval-hall | title=History of Seaton Delaval|publisher=National Trust|access-date=23 February 2024}} Further restoration was completed in 1959 and the early 1960s, From 1968 to 1984 "medieval banquets" were held in the original kitchen of the hall.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Adam+had+a+laugh+at+Delaval+banquets%3B+Court+jester+relives+hall%27s...-a0182020560|title = Adam had a laugh at Delaval banquets; Court jester relives hall's medieval days.| date=31 July 2008|newspaper=The Journal| access-date=23 February 2024}} However, the house was to remain unoccupied until the 1980s when, after a period of 160 years, Edward Delaval Henry Astley, 22nd Baron Hastings moved into the west wing.

Subsequently, Delaval Astley, 23rd Baron Hastings, wishing to preserve the future of the hall and encourage greater public access, began discussions with the National Trust. On 1 September 2008 the National Trust launched an appeal for £6.3m to bring the hall, with its gardens and grounds, into the Trust's custody.[http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-localtoyou/w-yorkshire_ne/w-appeals-sdlh-2.htm Seaton Delaval Hall: Save it, Shape it] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123044832/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-localtoyou/w-yorkshire_ne/w-appeals-sdlh-2.htm |date=23 November 2008 }}. National Trust. retrieved 10 September 2008 The hall opened to visitors again after the National Trust announced, in December 2009, that its appeal had been successful.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/8417364.stm|title=National Trust saves stately home|publisher=BBC News|date=16 December 2009|accessdate=2009-12-16}}

The hall was closed to visitors in 2018 as part of a £3.7 million refurbishment project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.{{cite web|url=https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/news/ps37million-restore-northumberlands-flamboyant-party-house|title=Seaton Delaval Hall, the 18th-century former home of the theatrical Delaval family, is set to enter a new chapter in its life thanks to National Lottery players across the UK.|publisher=Heritage Fund|date=5 April 2018|access-date=23 February 2024}} In October 2021, the hall was one of 142 sites across England to receive part of a £35-million injection into the government's Culture Recovery Fund, specifically for its sea-walk walls and corbels.[https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/news/heritage-and-craft-workers-across-england-given-a-helping-hand/ "Heritage and Craft Workers Across England Given a Helping Hand"] – Historic England, 22 October 2021

Architecture and layout

Image:Seaton Delaval. Britanicus.jpg envisaged the house. The statues on the pediments were never executed. Engraving by Colen Campbell, from his Vitruvius Britannicus.]]

File:Seaton Delaval Hall central block inside.jpg statues at first-floor level are permanently affixed to the walls; the missing ceiling was destroyed in the fire of 1822. The roof is modern.]]

The style of architecture is known as English Baroque, based on the Palladian style introduced into the UK by Inigo Jones. The design is of a centre block portico, or corps de logis, containing the state and principal rooms, between two flanking wings. The wings have a centre projection of three bays, crowned by a pediment, either side of which are seven bays of sash windows above a ground floor arcade.

The west wing originally housed secondary and service accommodation. Damaged in an earlier fire but restored to the original plan, it is distinguished by a great colonnade and boasted a lofty vaulted kitchen, now a salon. The east wing contains the stables, a sixty-foot chamber of palatial design, with stalls and mangers of stone fit. They were reportedly inspired by the stables at Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, designed by Robert Adam. In 1768 Sir Francis Blake Delaval wrote thus to his brother: "I am putting up the grand stable on a plan we saw at Lord Hoptoun's when we were in Scotland, with stone divisions of the stalls." So pleased was he with the results that Sir Francis held a dinner party in the new stables.Roger Burgess, Those Delavals! (1972), pp. 26, 27 Between the two wings is a cour d'honneur, a great open courtyard {{convert|180|ft|m}} long and {{convert|152.5|ft|m}} broad.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UBaTNso9yCAC |title=A History of Northumberland. Issued Under the Direction of the Northumberland County History Committee|volume= 9|year=1893|publisher=Northumberland County History Committee |page=180}}

File:Portrait of John Delaval (1756–1775).jpg.]]

Also in the {{convert|400|acre}} estate park is a stone mausoleum, about half a mile east of the hall, which once had a majestic dome, now gone, but which retains a portico resting on huge monolithic columns. The mausoleum is surrounded by a circular ha-ha, a stone-faced ditch. It was erected by Lord Delaval to his only son, John, who died in 1775 aged 19, "as a result of having been kicked in a vital organ by a laundry maid to whom he was paying his addresses".{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UBaTNso9yCAC |title=Northumberland, England's Farthest North|first= Thomas Ernest Conway|last= Walker|year=1952|page=261|publisher=Hodder and Stoughton }} No-one was ever buried in the mausoleum, which was never consecrated, and the unfortunate John Delaval was buried in St Peter's Doddington, Lincolnshire.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wm9vEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA201 |title= The English Folly The Edifice Complex|page=201|first1=Gwyn|last1= Headley|first2= Wim |last2=Meulenkamp |year=2020|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-1800346727}}

The mausoleum is now ruinous and its lead roof has gone. Also to the east in the walled garden is a south-facing orangery, designed by the architect William Etty, who collaborated with Vanbrugh. It has five glazed arches separated by Doric demi-columns. The statue in the forecourt in front of the house is a lead figure of David, with empty sling, lightly poised above the crouching form of Goliath, who has his thumbs doubled inside his palms. This is an 18th-century copy, possibly by John Cheere, of a 16th-century Italian marble by either Baccio Bandinelli or a follower of Giambologna. The statue has been repositioned from one of the corner bastions of the garden.Seaton Delaval Hall: A Souvenir Guide (National Trust), pp.20-21.

A large obelisk commands the fields to the south of the hall; the stub of a second can be found on the north side of the road running past the hall, next to the turning for New Hartley. This second obelisk marked the site where Admiral George Delaval was killed in a fall from his horse in 1723, before his new hall had been completed. Only the pedestal of the obelisk survives.{{cite web|url=http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/secrets-north-east-national-trust-8963726|title=Secrets of the North East National Trust locations – Seaton Delaval Hall|author=Ian Robson|date=2 April 2015|work=nechronicle|accessdate=6 December 2015}}

Legend

As with many big old houses, Seaton Delaval Hall is alleged to have a ghost. According to family biographer Francis Askham:

There is a first-floor window on the North front of Seaton Delaval where, so it would seem from one particular part of the forecourt, a white-clad figure is standing. This, according to legend, is the White Lady, a girl who fell in love with the Delaval heir and died of a broken heart because the marriage was forbidden.Askham, F. (1955), The Gay Delavals, Jonathan Cape. Francis Askham was a pseudonym of Julia Eileen Courtney Greenwood.