Horden Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Horden.
In the historic county of Durham.
Modern Authority of Durham.
1974 county of County Durham.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ43284242
Latitude 54.77484° Longitude -1.32864°

Horden Hall has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House, and also as a probable Pele Tower.

There are masonry footings remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Site of C13 towerhouse, which may have been rebuilt in C15. It was demolished in the late C16 and was replaced by Grade 2-star listed Horden Hall which, in its northern side, incorporates some 2m thick walling, possibly part of the original building. Licence to crenellate granted to Marmaduke fitz Geoffrey in 1260. Widow of William de Claxton received a licence for a private chapel in her "manor house at Horden" in 1411. (Jackson)

The licence in 45 Hen. III. to Marmaduke Fitz-Geoffrey for his house at Horden, a place which Mr. Parker says is unknown, and he queries it Houghton. Now the licencee is a notable personage in the pedigree of the Fitz-Marmadukes of Horden, and that spot, their customary residence, is one of the earliest and best known estates among the military tenures of the Palatinate. It is near Easington. The present hall is Jacobean, but it might repay a more careful investigation than has been bestowed upon it. (Longstaffe)

Small manor house. Mid C17, possibly incorporating medieval masonry, with later alterations. Probably for Sir John Conyers (died 1664). Interior: 2-metre thick rear wall, possibly medieval, visible in cellar. (Listed Building Report)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1260 Dec 18 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1120944
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 27222.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) D12559.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The Durham Record
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles and Tower Houses of County Durham (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 35
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 139
  Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlisle) p. 33-4
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 402 online copy
  Mackenzie, E. and Ross, M., 1834, An Historical, Topographical and Descriptive View of the County Palatine of Durham Vol. 1 p. 392-4 online copy
  Hutchinson, Wm, 1785-94, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham Vol. 2 p. 739-40 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Robson, H.L., 1974-6, 'Horden Hall' Antiquities of Sunderland and its vicinity Vol. 26 p. xl, 1-27
  Longstaffe, W.H.D., 1859, 'Licences to Crenellate – Horden' The Gentleman's Magazine Vol. 6 Part 2 p. 504 online copy
  R.R. 1809, The Gentleman's Magazine Vol. 79 Part 2 p. 1185, 1209-10 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1910, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry III (1258-66) Vol. 5 p. 132 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Coulson, C., Handlist of English Royal Licences to Crenellate 1200-1578

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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