Lambton Castle

Coordinates: 54°52′01″N 1°32′10″W / 54.867°N 1.536°W / 54.867; -1.536

Lambton Castle

Lambton Castle in the late 19th century.
Lambton Castle
Lambton Castle shown within County Durham
OS grid reference NZ298526
List of places
UK
England
County Durham

Lambton Castle located in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, is a stately home, the ancestral seat of the Lambton family, the Earls of Durham. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Lambton castle.
The Entrance of Lambton Castle in 1929. Everything on the right hand side of the picture (including the Great Hall, the roof of which can clearly be seen) has been demolished, along with the end of the wing that was built out towards the location of the camera. The crenellated towers on the end of the entrance portico were rebuilt to suit the narrower facade

History

Largely constructed in its present form between 1820 and 1828 by John Lambton, first Earl of Durham and one-time Governor General of Canada, it was built around the existing Harraton Hall, a 17th-century mansion. The castle was designed by architects Joseph Bonomi the Elder and his son Ignatius and built in the style of a Norman castle, as was the fashion of the time.[1]

Later additions to the house built by Sydney Smirke in 1862–65, including the great hall, were largely demolished in 1932.[1] In the 1930s the family moved to the smaller Biddick Hall on the estate.[2]

The park that surrounds the castle is bordered by a high wall and is still used for an annual pheasant shoot. For a time in the 1970s, the castle's grounds were also home to Lambton Lion Park, opened in 1972 and closed in 1980.[3]

In a more recent transaction the Lambton family have sold the Biddick Woods, which now includes the link road from the A182 to the A690 in Houghton le Spring and new business units.[4]

In 2012, Lambton Castle was the setting of the new BBC One drama The Paradise.[5]

On 30 December 2015 plans for the development of the Lambton Estate were submitted to the local planning authority for approval: the plans would help fund the conservation of the park, with potential to turn the Lambton Castle into a wedding venue, boutique hotel or both, with between £26million and £28.5million needed to fund the work. The plans were submitted by the Trustees of Lord Durham’s 1989 Voluntary Settlement, which manages the estate on behalf of the Lambton family.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Lambton Castle". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  2. ↑ "Lambton Estate July 2012". Durham County Council. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "Lambton Estate near Chester-le-Street may open for tourists". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "Development Plan". Durham Count Council. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  5. ↑ King, Hannah (25 September 2012). "The Paradise: Bringing the set to life". tv blog. bbc.co.uk.
  6. ↑ "£28.5million rescue mission for historic Lambton estate – including new homes and jobs". Retrieved 21 February 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 2/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.