Hebburn Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Ellison Hall; Jarrow

In the civil parish of Hebburn.
In the historic county of Durham.
Modern Authority of South Tyneside.
1974 county of Tyne and Wear.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ31116416
Latitude 54.97107° Longitude -1.51537°

Hebburn Hall has been described as a probable Pele Tower.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

The present Hebburn Hall dates to the 17th century with late 18th and 19th century alterations. Its predecessor, according to Surtees writing in 1820, was an "old mansion house...built with some view to defence, trenching on the Castle like the Border towers". It was later reported that "the builder of the mansion took down the old tower (with the exception of one length of massive walling 4.5 feet thick), as well as the Elizabethan additions that had been made to it, and used up the materials in the new edifice. Some of the mullions and sills of the narrow windows of the tower were found in the walls when the recent transformations were made". The house was further altered in the 1880s when the Ellisons finally left. Though part of the house is said to survive at the west end, in what became a vicarage, the evidence for its early appearance is circumstantial. A site visit in November 2001 during restoration work to Hebburn Hall revealed three stone corbels which had previously been hidden under a suspended ceiling. The thick stone wall mentioned above was also identified. Though these undoubtably belong to the medieval building, further research will be required to ascertain exactly which part of the building they represent. The corbels presumably supported a parapet. (Tyne and Wear HER)

The old mansion-house was built with some view to defence, trenching on the castle like the Border towers. Whether it was this military and predatory aspect, which naturally reminded the citizens of the horrors of the Border war, or the imposing situation of Hebburne on the Tyne, or, rather, the popish tenets of its owners, the place seems to have been from the dissolution till the civil wars (during the possession of the Hodgsons) the frequent object of jealousy and suspicion to the peaceful burghers of Newcastle. (Surtees)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1025194
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 26612.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 979.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Corfe, Tom (ed), 1992, 'The Visible Middle Ages' in An Historical Atlas of County Durham p. 28-9
  Pevsner, N., 1983 (Revised by Williamson, Elizabeth), Buildings of England: Durham (London, Penguin) p. 320-1
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 139 (possible)
  Surtees, R., 1820, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham Vol. 2 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- 1890 Jan, 'Hebburn Hall' The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend p. 42-3 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Simpson & Brown and South Tyneside Council, 2007, Hebburn Hall Conservation Area - First draft Character Appraisal
  R. Hewitt, Tyne and Wear Museums, 2004, Hebburn Hall, Hebburn - Archaeological Building Recording

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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