Eglingham Hall

Description

(NU 10421954) The site of Eglingham Hall was probably occupied by a succession of different types of dwellings in the Middle Ages, but the oldest part of the present building, the west wing, is not earlier than 16th century and has been so much modernised that it is impossible to say whether it is the remains of a bastle house or an early 17th century manor house. In the late 17th or early 18th century a two storeyed building was added to this west wing; the house was added to in the late 18th and 19th centuries (Dodds 1935).
..... some late 13th century window jambs and sills and a late 14th/early 15th century doorway at Eglingham Hall are supposed to have come from the Hospital at Harehope (Hodgson 1922).
'The west wing is reputed to be the oldest part of the Hall, but it has been much altered - the walls only may be the remains of the original building. I have no knowledge of the windows and doorway supposed to have come from Harehope'. There are no external traces of antiquity in Eglingham Hall; the walls of the west wing are c.1m thick, but this is not proof that they are the remains of an early 17th century manor house. The windows and doorway said to come from Harehope Hospital, were not identified (F1 JHO 16-FEB-1955).
Eglingham Hall, Grade II star. Country house. West wing 16th or 17th century; main block probably 1728, possibly by William Etty, for Robert Ogle. West wing altered and heightened c.1780; extended to north 1890. East wing 1903 by Temple Wilson for Thomas Milvain, in Baroque style. Design thought to be influenced by Vanburgh's Seaton Delaval, however, William Wakefield may be architect of Eglingham and not William Etty (Listed Building Report). (Northumberland HER)

Eglingham Hall NU 104195, is listed by Long on evidence which is clearly inadequate. (King 1983)

One of the village's leaseholders Robert Collingwood built a rather large strong house which, in 1704, became the west wing of a mansion. The mansion now called Eglingham Hall was extended further at the end of the 19th century, and have been modified slightly since then. The original strong house is still there but it blends in with the rest and is difficult to detect. (Dodds 1999)

Eglingham Hall was an Ogle residence; the building probably originally dates from the 16th or 17th century, and may be on the site of an earlier bastle house, apparently described in 1650 as 'a savage retreat for a discontented and gloomy laird'. (Eglingham Conservation Area Character Appraisal)

Comments

The supposed 13th century pieces of masonry noted by Hodgson were in the grounds of the hall, not part of the building. Dodds (1999) cites no references and tends to write with a certainty not always justified by the often slight evidence. This was a manorial site so if there was a defensible building built here in the 16th century, which is entirely likely, it would have been the grander type of bastle.