History
Centuries of Weardale life, under one stone roof.
Long before afternoon tea by the fire, this was the seat of one of the great old families of the North.
Stanhope Old Hall stands at the western edge of the village, a Grade II* listed manor house built in the 16th and 17th centuries around stone that may be older still. Its H-shaped plan, mullioned windows and Tudor-arched doorway have watched over the dale through the reigns of the Tudors, the Stuarts, a civil war and everything since.
The hall is now three homes. We live in the heart of it, and it is our pleasure to share it with our guests.
- Listed
- Grade II*, since 1967
- Built
- 16th and 17th centuries, around older fabric
- Plan
- H-shaped, in stone, with a stone-flagged roof
- Family
- The Fetherstonhaughs, for some three hundred years
Through the centuries
What the house still holds
The official listing records a wide stone fireplace, a beehive bread oven, a 17th-century staircase with turned balusters and acorn finials, an early 18th-century stair, and a 17th-century panelled screen, alongside the oak beams, stone walls and old timber doors you will see as you walk through.
The hall is now three homes, so not every room is ours to show. Ask us during your stay and we will tell you what to look out for.
The stories
No house this old is without its tales, and Stanhope Old Hall has more than most. There is a grey lady, said to move the furniture when no one is looking. There are red-robed monks, said to have hidden in the cellars during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, and who some say have never left. And there is the old legend of a young engaged couple who came into the house and were never seen again, until they were found beneath the floorboards, still holding hands.
We have not met any of them yet. We will let you know.
