Blog

Rockcliffe Hall Conversion

Rockcliffe Hall shrouded in scaffold

Rockcliffe Hall, a 19th Century Mansion House in Hurworth Darlington, is being converted into a five-star leisure development, consisting of a championship golf course, restaurants, a luxury hotel and wellbeing spa retreat. As part of Shepherd Construction’s wider scheme to transform the estate, a private housing development is also planned.

St Astier have been carefully restoring Rockcliffe Hall’s stonework and architectural features to return the building to its former glory. This has involved the recording, removal, cleaning and refixing of a number of parrapets, chimneys and other details which have sustained damage, become dislodged or even completely lost due to the effects of corroded iron cramps.

Rockcliffe Hall has had its fair share of scrapes – in 1944 a light aircraft crashed into the grounds and it has been badly damaged by fire on at least two occasions, most notabley in 1903 and 1974, three years after it featured in the Michael Cain movie, Get Carter.

Records from the 1820’s list Rockcliffe Hall as being known as Pilmore House, and in the possession of Robert Surtees of Redworth, the Co Durham Historian. Pilmore House was later inhabited by Surtees’ famous cousin, the landscape painter Thomas Surtees Raine. Ownership of the property has since changed on several occassions. In 1950 the estate was bought by the Brothers of St John of God and converted into a hospital. The building’s new role did not last long – around 18 years in total – and Rockcliffe Hall was compulsorily purchased by Durham County Council for use as a Community Centre.

Following a period of neglect and abondonment, Middlesbrough Football Club purchased the estate in 1996 as a training facility befitting of their premiership status.

The 375 acre development is scheduled for completion in 2009.

Posted on 22 August 2008 by Phil Brown and filed under .

Comments

Commenting has expired (after 6 weeks) or is turned off for this article