Gates To Redworth Hall

HEIGHINGTON

1667/0/10007 HIGHSIDE ROAD 18-DEC-07 Gates to Redworth Hall

GV II Gate piers and gates at the entrance to Redworth Hall. Early C19 for Robert Surtees, resited on a new entrance during the inter-war period.

MATERIALS: sandstone rubble piers, wrought iron gates.

Four rusticated tall, round piers with stepped copings and each carrying a ball finial. The two main gate piers have inset round medallions bearing the Surtees' crest. The entrance contains original ornamental double wrought iron gates flanked by single, narrow gates. The main gates have the letters V and S incorporated in their wrought iron work.

HISTORY: Redworth Hall, which is listed in Grade II, has its origins in the early C17 and has been in the ownership of the Surtees family for generations. Robert Surtees, a relation of the celebrated Historian Robert Surtees of Mainsforth lived at the hall in the early C19 when these gate posts and piers were said to have been erected. They are believed to have been a wedding present to his wife Elizabeth, whom records show he married in 1811. Ordnance Survey maps show that in the mid-C19, the main and probably original entrance to the estate lay to the east, and the hall was accessed along a curving driveway. Between 1923 and 1939, a new and longer drive was created to the west of the hall with its entrance on Park House Lane. The hall now operates as a hotel and both of the former entrances and drives have gone out of use and a new hotel entrance has been created to the north.

DESCRIPTION These gates and gateposts are located at the entrance to the second driveway which map analysis shows was not constructed until at least the mid 1920s. They comprise a set of double wrought iron gates supported by a pair of gate piers flanked by single, narrow gates supported on the other side by another gate pier. The piers, which are identical, are tall columns of rustic sandstone rubble with offset bases and stepped copings with ball finials. The two main piers have inset bronze medallions of the Surtees family crest. The ornamental wrought iron gates carry a circular motif containing the letters V and S probably denoting the Surtees family. Abutting stone walls to either side are C20 in date.

SOURCES: www.british-history.ac.uk

REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION This entrance to Redworth Hall is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

• It is an elegant example of an early C19 country house entrance * It has Group Value with the listed Redworth Hall and although it has been moved it retains its landscape context in relation to the Hall. * Its association with one of Durham's major families is explicit in the incorporation of the Surtees' crests and the letters VS