Seaton Delaval Hall
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Overview
Architect Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) used his commission from Admiral George Delaval (1667-1723) to build a house on this windswept northern coast to indulge his taste for the dramatic. By the time Vanbrugh came to design his masterpiece at Seaton Delaval he had already produced both Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace. As a former playwright, Vanbrugh knew how to utilize scenery for impressive effect, and the north-facing entrance front of his main block is hugely powerful, with its towers and turrets and enormous columns dwarfing the central doorway. Even the garden front is monumentally and magnificently intimidating. From the outside, the hall looks whole and complete, but the Great Hall of the central block is semi-ruinous, open to the roof and still bearing the marks of the fire that swept through it in 1822. Blackened statues stand in their niches and a delicate iron gallery, now restored, gives access to vanished floors. In the Mahogany and Tapestry Rooms on the north side there is a display of family portraits and mahogany panelling survives, while the vaulted basement could have held supplies for an army. In the west wing the former kitchen is now the entrance hall, and in this and the other habitable rooms are furniture and paintings that were rescued from the blaze, as well as items from Melton Constable in Norfolk. Over in the opposite wing, Vanbrugh’s fine stables, like a pagan temple, still have the horses’ names above the classical niches holding their mangers. The stalls have their original finely moulded timberwork and paved floors.
Features
- Opening Times
- Open all year
- Opening Times: Open Nov-Feb, Sat-Sun 11-3; Mar & 24 Apr-14 Jul & Sep-Oct, Thu-Mon 11-5; 3-21 Apr & 17 Jul-Aug, daily 11-5
- Facilities
- Parking onsite
- Cafe
About the area
If it’s history you’re after, there’s heaps of it in Northumberland. On Hadrian’s Wall you can imagine scarlet-cloaked Roman legionaries keeping watch for painted Pictish warriors while cursing the English weather and dreaming of home.
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