Hamsterley Hall is an 18th century country house at Hamsterley

Hamsterley, Bishop Auckland

Hamsterley is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles west of Bishop Auckland.The village lies on a rise above the upper reaches of the Wear valley. To the west of the village the land rises to Hamsterley Common at the eastern edge of the fell country which lies between the...

, Rowlands Gill

Rowlands Gill

Rowlands Gill is a village situated along the A694, between Winlaton Mill and Blackhall Mill, on the north bank of the River Derwent, Tyne and Wear, England. With the coming of the Derwent Valley Railway in 1867, Rowlands Gill became both a coal mining village, and during the early part of the...

, County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is a Grade II* listed building.

The estate at Hamsterley was given, in 1762, by Sir John Swinburne Bt

Swinburne Baronets

The Swinburne Baronetcy, of Capheaton in the County of Northumberland, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 26 September 1660 for John Swinburne in honour of the loyalty to Charles I of Swinburne's father and grandfather prior to and during the English Civil War. He...

 to his younger brother Henry Swinburne. In 1769, Henry carried out substantial alterations to the then existing house to create the present two story, four bayed castellated Gothic style mansion.

Swinburne died in 1803 and in 1806 the property was sold to Anthony Surtees. His son Robert Smith Surtees

Robert Smith Surtees

Robert Smith Surtees was an English editor, novelist and sporting writer. He was the second son of Anthony Surtees of Hamsterley Hall, a member of an old County Durham family.-Early life:...

, a novelist, acquired the estate in 1838. He was High Sheriff of Durham in 1856. He died in 1864, leaving his estate to his daughter Eleanor, who married John Gage Prendergast Vereker, 5th Viscount Gort

Viscount Gort

Viscount Gort is the title of two peerages in British and Irish history. Gort is a small town in County Galway in the West of Ireland. The original title was in the Peerage of Ireland and is still extant....

 in 1885. Their first son John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort

John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort

Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, VC, GCB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, MVO, MC , was a British and Anglo-Irish soldier. As a young officer in World War I he won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of the Canal du Nord. During the 1930s he served as Chief of the...

 VC

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

 was succeeded in 1946 by his brother Standish Vereker, 7th Viscount MC

Military Cross

The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....

who lived at Hamsterley until his death in 1975.