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MANSION HOUSE OF THE HUTTON FAMILY One of the most imposing and impressive buildings in Houghton-le-Spring is that of the old Hall, a mansion house located on the aptly named Hall Lane in the east side of the town centre. Houghton Hall is rumoured to have been built in 1575 though it is more likely that it dates from around 1589, when it was occupied by Rev Robert Hutton, the Rector of Houghton-le-Spring. The History & Antiquities of the County Palatine of 1823 goes as far to suggest the month: “Robert Hutton...collated to Houghton-le-Spring, the 4th of December, 1589, where he purchased an estate, and built a house, now possessed by his descendants.”
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Rector Hutton died in 1623 and the Hall became the home of his grandson, Captain Robert Hutton. Captain Hutton shared his grandfather’s name, but their views differed greatly. The two had a falling out when the Rector refused to allow Captain Hutton’s favourite horse to be buried in the parish churchyard. The Captain was a noted Puritan, fighting in Cromwell’s Parliamentary Army and served in the Scottish campaign and the sacking of Dundee. Captain Hutton is noteworthy for another reason; in 1670 he carried out the first recorded occurrence of fox hunting with hounds in England.
Captain Hutton had no wish for a burial in the churchyard following their disagreement years earlier – instead he opted to be buried in the grounds of Houghton Hall alongside the remains of his trusty steed and pet dog. He died on August 9th 1680 and his final resting place was marked with a large stone vault. Overlapping the ancient maps with modern aerial photographs show that Hutton’s tomb stood in the grassed back gardens of Holly Avenue and Windsor Crescent on the Racecourse Estate.
Hutton’s name lives on in Gentoo’s new modern development, which recently replaced the demolished housing estate, and is known as Hutton’s Rise. Gentoo contractors had a surprise during the construction when bones were discovered in the area, and fearing that they had unearthed Captain Hutton, called in the archaeologists who confirmed that the bones were bovine. In fact, Captain Hutton’s remains had been removed from the vault and reinterred in the parish churchyard when the Racecourse Estate was built in the 1920s and 1930s. A small, non-conspicuous stone marks the spot, just in front of the Almshouses behind the Church.
The Hutton family remained the owners of Houghton Hall, which has three floors and dozens of rooms, until it was sold on October 9th 1839 to Mr John Anderson. By 1850, the Hall was in the ownership of its most noteworthy custodian, Sir George Elliot, Bart, MP. Sir George became an MP on November 26th 1868 and he was created a Baronet on May 15 1874. In his capacity as an MP, he made arrangements for the new tongue of Big Ben, in Westminster, London, to be forged at Hopper’s Iron Foundry in Houghton-le-Spring. He also advised Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to buy shares in the Suez Canal, resulting in England having control over the shipping route to India. Sir George was, of course, a self-made man, having started out as a trapper boy down Whitfield Pit in Penshaw, but his time at the Hall was not always marked with success. In September 1861, tragedy struck when his 20 year old daughter Elizabeth died in a fire at Houghton Hall. She was interred in a large vault at Houghton’s Hillside Cemetery.
Sir George died in 1893 and joined his daughter in the family vault at Hillside Cemetery. Three years later the Hall become home to Ted Martin, later manager of Houghton Colliery, who recalled in the 1960s that there was a bedchamber haunted by the ghost of Captain Hutton!
In 1917, Houghton Hall was purchased by Houghton Social Club for £1030 0s 0d, including the extensive grounds and apple and pear orchards. There was even a bandstand which was popular for summer concerts. The chairman of the Club at this time was John Burnside, and the Secretary was Mr R. Henderson. Membership was at 609 members and the club was known locally as ‘the Big Club’.
Houghton Hall became a Listed Building in 1950 and the maintenance and restoration responsibilities appear to have become a burden. In 1964 work started on a new Club Building within the extensive grounds of the Hall, at a cost of £40,000. The new Club faced onto Hall Lane and opened in April 1965. Meanwhile the old Houghton Hall building was left abandoned and empty.
In 1967, the Houghton branch of the YMCA acquired a tenancy of Houghton Hall, as their original premises on nearby Church Street were due for demolition to make way for the A690 dual-carriageway road system. In 1971, the YMCA’s lease expired and the organisation bought Houghton Hall outright for £2,500 and carried out restoration work. Walls were stripped of ivy and an old boiler house, which had damaged the roof parapet, was demolished. A betting office on the front wall, from the days of it being a Social Club, was demolished restoring the entrance to some of its former glory. Some of the original features discovered during the restoration included: Elizabethan panelling in the Boardroom and the fireplace; fireplace recesses, meat spits, hooks for hanging bacon, and ancient bell pulls remained in the kitchen; and on the third floor, black beams supporting the roof (this is where the servants slept). A new sports area, known as the John Edwards Sports Hall, named after the local YMCA Chairman responsible for the restoration, was erected on land to the rear of the Hall, the construction of which uncovered a Tudor arch.
The YMCA was officially opened on June 10th 1972 by Sir Sadler Forster and Houghton’s Rector, Rev Peter Brett. Membership of the YMCA was around 300 and Houghton Hall became a hive of activity for the clubs and social groups which blossomed, including clubs for table tennis, weight lifting, weight watchers, canoe building, and many others.
Alan Patrick, of Houghton, recalled those times:
“I worked at the YMCA in the eighties. It had a thriving Junior and Senior Youth club, as well as old tyme dances every week, a girls football team, a men’s team which played in the Greenalls Wearside League, Whist Drives on a Thursday, karate and aikido clubs, gymnastic clubs, all staffed by the then Community programme. We also did the Houghton Feast Carnival every year, winning trophies for our floats. The local youth made extremely good use of the facilities, keeping a lot off the streets, not that there is much now for them to do, since it closed. All in all it was a tremendous asset to the local community.”
In 1996 Houghton’s YMCA fell into trouble following the successful prosecution of the General Secretary, a Mr Scott, for financial irregularities. Valiant efforts were made in 1998 to keep the YMCA going but with large debts, it was forced to close. By 1999 Houghton Hall was vacated and boarded up. The old Hall was entered into English Heritage’s new ‘Buildings at Risk Register’ and became Sunderland’s only entry. Houghton Hall went up for sale with an asking price of £110,000 and was thought to contain one of only three self-supporting cantilever staircases left in the UK.
Plans were circulated showing that the Hall was to be converted into six homes with a further six homes houses in an extension, however the Hall was acquired by the Shipman family who moved into the derelict Hall on December 5th 2001 and started the process of converting the dilapidated building into a family home and business.
The Shipman family resides in Houghton Hall to this day and should be credited with saving Houghton Hall.
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1575 – It is rumoured that Houghton Hall was built in this year.
1589 – Robert Hutton, – nephew of Dr Matthew Hutton, Bishop of Durham, was Rector of Houghton-le-Spring. It is thought that he had Houghton Hall built.
“Robert Hutton...collated to Houghton-le-Spring, the 4th of December, 1589, where he purchased an estate, and built a house, now possessed by his descendants.”
c1623 – Rector Robert Hutton died.
1670 – Captain Robert Hutton, one of Cromwell’s Roundheads, resided at the Hall, and carried out the first recorded occurrence of fox hunting in the country with his hounds. He was the grandson of Rector Robert Hutton but was an ardent Puritan!
1680 – Captain Robert Hutton died 9th August and was buried in the orchard of Houghton Hall alongside his favourite horse and dog. The Latin inscription reads:
Which translates as:
c1834 – Ralph Anderson lived at the Hall at this time.
1839 – The Hutton family sold Houghton Hall on October 9th 1839.
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1841 – Occupied by Ralph and Grace Anderson, John (farmer), William (farmer), Grace, Ralph (surgeon), Margaret, and Shadforth.
1851 – A Mr John Anderson (proprietor of houses) resided at the Hall (by 1855 he was classed as living in the Market Place) with his mother Grace, and siblings William (High Constable), Grace and Margaret.
1850 - 1861 – George Elliot Esq (later Sir George Elliot) was resident at the Hall, which at this time was called Hutton’s Hall but became known locally as Elliot’s Hall.
1861 – Houghton Hall, The Quay, was occupied by Margaret Elliot (civil engineer’s wife and nursing) and children Margaret W, Elizabeth, Alice A, George W, Henrietta, plus nieces Mary A P Elliot and Mary L Green. Elizabeth Younger was housekeeper.
1861 – On September 29th 1861, George Elliot’s 20 year old daughter, Elizabeth Elliot, died at Houghton Hall; her dress apparently caught fire as she dressed for a party. She was interred in the Elliot family vault at Houghton Hillside Cemetery on October 3rd 1861.
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1861 - 1865 – Elizabeth Younger was recorded as being housekeeper at Houghton Hall to the Elliot family, and had worked with the family since at least 1841, when they resided in Belmont Cottage, Rainton. Elizabeth died at Houghton Hall, aged 77 from disease of the liver on October 8th 1865. She was buried three days later at Houghton Hillside Cemetery. At this time, Mary Matthewson was cook, Elizabeth Atkin was house maid, Mary Watton was lady’s maid, and Thomasine Lawson was kitchen maid at Houghton Hall.
1871 – Margaret Elliott (housekeeper and domestic servant), Elizabeth Elliott (cook) and three servants. It would appear that the master of the house was away when the census enumerator came to call! [Surname should only have one 't'].
1881 – The census records the Hall as being occupied by Andrew Bell (gardener and domestic servant), his wife Jane (house keeper) and son John.
1890 – “Houghton Hall, the seat of Sir George Elliot bart, MP, DL, JP, is a rectangular mansion of three stories, situated north-east of the church, and was erected by Robert Hutton, rector here 1589-1623; it retains its mullioned windows, with a plain parapet, and is slightly altered from its original design; in the grounds attached to the house is an altar-tomb with inscription, erected over the grave of Robert Hutton esq. son of the above-mentioned, and a captain of horse in the Parliamentary army, who died 9th August, 1680, and was here buried at his own request, probably on account of his Puritan views, but traditionally in order to lie near the remains of his favourite charger.”
[Kelly’s Durham Directory, 1890]
1891 – Alice Parkin, daughter of the late Elizabeth Younger (former housekeeper in 1861 to the Elliot family), is recorded as housekeeper at the Hall. Alice’s granddaughter (incorrectly listed as daughter on the census), Jane Parkin, was a servant there. No other person was recorded at the Hall, other than Jane Davison, visitor.
1894 – "Houghton Hall, which was the mansion-house of the Hutton family, is a plain stone building, in the Elizabethan style of architecture, and is supposed to have been built by Robert Hutton, the then rector of Houghton, some time between the years 1589 and 1623, who acquired considerable property in the parish of Houghton. It is still the property of the descendants of the Huttons, and was formerly the residence of Sir George Elliot, Bart."
[Whellan's Directory of Durham, 1894]
1896 - In the 1960s, Ted Martin, retired manager of Houghton Colliery, recalled that when his family lived in Houghton Hall in 1896, the ghost of Captain Hutton haunted a bedchamber which was always kept locked.
1899 – Around this time Selwyn Austin resided at the Hall.
1901 – Houghton Hall is mentioned as uninhabited in the 1901 census.
1917 – Houghton Hall was purchased by Houghton Social Club for £1030 0s 0d, including the extensive grounds and orchards (later occupied by the now demolished Holly Avenue, part of the Racecourse Estate). Apple and pear trees lined the grounds, and there was even a bandstand which was popular for summer concerts. The chairman of the Club at this time was John Burnside, and the Secretary was R. Henderson. Membership was at 609 members. The Club was officially registered as ‘Houghton-le-Spring Social Limited’ on January 16th 1904 and originally occupied premises on Newbottle Street. It was known locally as the ‘Big Club’.
1919 – Anthony Widdowfield was steward of Houghton Social Club at this time.
1938 – Houghton-le-Spring Workmen’s Social Club Limited, Church Street, William Jeff, Secretary.
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1950 – On April 26th 1950, the Hall became a grade II Listed Building, and was described as follows:
List Entry Number: 456/7/46
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1960s - Ted Martin, retired manager of Houghton Colliery, recalled that when his family lived in Houghton Hall in 1896, the ghost of Captain Hutton haunted a bedchamber which was always kept locked.
1964 - Work started on a new Club Building within the extensive grounds of Houghton Hall, costing £40,000. The Club Building faced onto Hall Lane and opened in April 1965 and the Club seemingly abandoned the old Houghton Hall building.
1965 – The last year the Hall was a Social Club. During its time as a club, a dray horse once fell through the floor and landed in the tunnel which allegedly connected the Hall to St Michael’s Church.
1966 – Vaux Breweries deposited records with Durham Records Office, some of which related to Houghton Hall.
1966 - A Steward’s House was built alongside the Club Building at a cost of £5,000. Vaux Breweries deposited records with Durham Records Office, some of which related to Houghton Hall.
1967 - The YMCA acquired a tenancy of Houghton Hall, as the premises in Church Street were due for demolition to make way for the A690 dual-carriageway system.
1968 - Photos of Houghton Hall show the dilapidated condition of the abandoned building’s interior.
The rear of Houghton Hall, c1972.
1971 - The YMCA’s lease of Houghton Hall expired. The YMCA bought Houghton Hall for £2,500 and carried out restoration work. Walls were stripped of ivy and an old boiler house, which had damaged the roof parapet, was demolished. The betting office on the front wall was demolished, restoring the entrance to some of its former glory (the original stone pediment was no longer there). Some of the original features discovered during the restoration included: Elizabethan panelling in the Boardroom and the fireplace; fireplace recesses, meat spits, hooks for hanging bacon, and ancient bell pulls remained in the kitchen; and on the third floor, black beams supporting the roof (this is where the servants slept). A new sports area, known as the John Edwards Sports Hall (named after the local chairman responsible for the restoration) was erected on land to the rear of the Hall, the construction of which uncovered a Tudor arch.
1971 - Membership of the YMCA at this time was 300.
Civic guests opening Houghton Hall YMCA.
1972 – The official opening of the YMCA took place on June 10th 1972. Souvenir programmes were issued to all in attendance. It made mention of the following: “A transformation has been effected which faithfully preserves the character of the Hall. We feel we have made a worthy contribution to the unique complement of historical buildings in the immediate neighbourhood and have added to the undoubted charm of the area.”
A plaque was unveiled and read as follows:
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This Ancient Hall was acquired by the Trustees in 1971 and following extensive restoration was opened on 10th June 1972 by Sir Sadler Forster as Headquarters of the Houghton-le-Spring YMCA and dedicated by the Reverend P.G.C. Brett, Rector of Houghton. John Edwards, Chairman Rowland Storey, General Secretary |
1996> – Robin Midson became chairman of the YMCA. He worked alongside the board to reduce the YMCA’s debts, following the successful prosecution of the former Secretary, John Scott, for financial irregularities.
1998> – advert – YMCA Hall Lane, Houghton-le-Spring – Something for everyone. Multi Gym, weight training, sunbeds, keep fit, step aerobics, ju jitsu, karate, kick boxing, junior playgroup, senior group, girls group and boys group. Tel 0191 584 2345.
The YMCA at Houghton Hall in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
1999 – The Hall ceased to be a YMCA in the mid to late 1990s, and was vacated and boarded up by 1999. Houghton Hall was entered into English Heritage’s new Buildings At Risk Register and became Sunderland’s only entry. The building went up for sale with an asking price of £110,000 and was thought to contain one of only three self-supporting cantilever staircases left in the UK.
2000 – May – A young lady was murdered behind Houghton Social Club Building, alongside Houghton Hall. The Club Building was demolished shortly afterwards.
2000 – June – A planning application was submitted to convert Houghton Hall into six homes along with an extension containing another six homes.
2001 – The Shipman family moved into the derelict Hall on December 5th and started the process of converting the derelict building into a family home and business.
c2003 – Mews Court was built on the site of the Club building.
2007 – On November 28th, historical curiosities and collectibles relating to Houghton Hall went under the hammer at Anderson & Garland auctioneers in Newcastle.
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c1952 - Mr Brogan (YMCA on Church Street)
???? - Jim Grey
???? - Jack Hartis
c1969 - Rowland Storey, previously Chairman (YMCA in Houghton Hall) until 1979
1980s - Paul Johnson
19?? - John Scott
19?? - Rowland Storey (later General Secretary)
1980s - Mrs Lillian Milburn
1996 - Robin Midson
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:: Thanks go to Liz Shipman for being so welcoming and granting access to her magnificent home; to Jeff Bartram for information on the secret tunnels; to Cathy Younger for information on her housekeeping ancestors at Houghton Hall; and to Robin Midson for granting access to the Hall to me and my school pals for a school ghost project in the early 1990s. Thanks are also extended to: Rowland Storey, a former general secretary of the YMCA; Alan Patrick, for information on past Secretaries, Chairmen and the YMCA’s many activities in the 1980s; David Sill; Lena Inch, relative of Houghton Club steward Anthony Widdowfield; and Rev Peter Brett.
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PAGE UPDATED: 23/07/2019
:: Durham County Advertiser, October 25th 1974;
:: A Short History of Houghton Social Club by J.M. Laverick, October 1983.
:: 'Houghton Had Intruders As Its Rectors in Civil War' by Mr C.A. Smith MA, November 1960.
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Houghton House is located next to Houghton Hall but on Nesham Place
Houghton Hall, The Quay, Church Street, Houghton Le Spring
Houghton House is located next to Houghton Hall but on Nesham Place
Houghton Hall, The Quay, Church Street, Houghton Le Spring
Houghton House is located next to Houghton Hall but on Nesham Place
Houghton Hall, The Quay, Church Street, Houghton Le Spring