Work for North East firms in stately home restoration

Seaton Delaval Hall has won nearly £500k of funding from SITA to save its crumbling heart, which could lead to work for local firms.

The National Trust will use the money at the Grade 1 listed stately home to renovate the Central Hall, which has remained a shell since a devastating fire in 1822.

The Hall was in danger of being officially condemned within the next 12 months but the SITA Trust heritage award will now lead to works beginning at the end of September.

National Trust bosses hope the works will provide opportunity for local firms, and possibly create jobs.

Cheryl Moore, the National Trust’s chartered building surveyor for Seaton Delaval Hall, who will be overseeing the work, said: “Without the generosity of SITA Trust and the generous help of several individuals and local trusts and foundations which have also supported the project, we would not have been able to keep the Central Hall open.

“The building is deteriorating at such a rapid rate that within the next 12 months we would have had to close that part of the building completely.

“In high winds last November we lost a couple of windows, masonry is falling and the cellars are regularly flooded because of gaps in the stonework.

“The money has come at the right time as other funds had run out. This is the biggest single grant that SITA Trust gives per year and one project across the whole of the country gets the money.

“Winning it has really put the spotlight back on the North East.”

Seaton Delaval Hall was one of three finalists from 12 potential projects invited to compete for the SITA Trust pot.

Marek Gordon, chairman and CEO of SITA Trust, added: “All three finalists made compelling cases, all three were iconic architecturally important buildings and all three were in urgent need of support. All three teams presenting demonstrated immense passion and expertise. The final choice was exceptionally difficult. “What was the deciding factor? Most likely it was the incredible local support and involvement of so many local people that nudged Seaton Delaval Hall over the line. We congratulate the whole Seaton Delaval team on winning our competition and we look forward to seeing the outputs.”

The National Trust acquired Seaton Delaval Hall in December 2009 after a public appeal to save the estate for the nation following the death of its owner Lord Hastings. He had been instrumental in beginning renovation work on the hall in the 1950s.

Mark Warr, Seaton’s community engagement officer, said: “Without Lord Hastings the National Trust wouldn’t have had anything to save in the first place. The hall would have just gone.”

Vanbrugh, who was the architect of both Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, began work on the hall in 1718 for Admiral George Delaval. The centre block contained what was the main living and reception area over extensive cellars.

It was in the late afternoon of January 3, 1822 that a fire believed to have been caused by a jackdaw’s nest lodged in a chimney, broke out. Reports from the time say fishermen sailing back to Blyth noticed the sunset seemed to be particularly bright but then realised it was a fire.

On reaching port they raised the alarm and 200 local people rushed to the scene to help. But the blaze was out of control and the ferocity of the flames was such that the roof turned to cinders, glass in the windows melted and lead rained down like water.

The Central Hall then stood roofless for the next 40 years, its insides left to decay and the statues used for target practice. In 1862 plans were drawn up by architect John Dobson to repair it, but unfortunately he and Seaton’s then owner Jacob Astley died before it could be completed and the mansion was left empty.

The National Trust has already spent £2m on conservation work, rewiring, fire and security systems, preserving internal masonry, reroofing and upgrading facilities.

The latest project is expected to be finished by June 2014 with the marble floor the first phase before work moves to the exterior between November and February to protect the hall’s colony of hibernating bats, which include the common pipistrelle and brown long-eared.

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