MORTHAM TOWER - OnTheMarket€¦ · Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL9 4QL Tel: 01748 897610 [email protected] . MORTHAM TOWER 3. ARNARD ASTLE • COUNTY URHAM/NORTH ORKSHIRE ORDER 4

MORTHA M TOWER • 1

B A R N A R D C A S T L E • CO U N T Y D U R H A M / N O RT H YO R K S H I R E B O R D E R

MORTHAM TOWER

B A R N A R D C A S T L E • CO U N T Y D U R H A M / N O RT H YO R K S H I R E B O R D ER

2 • MORTHA M TOWER

MORTHAM TOWER

BEAUTIFUL AND HISTORIC GRADE I LISTED FORTIFIED MANOR HOUSE IN A MAGNIFICENT PARKLAND SETTING.

Barnard Castle 3 miles • A1/Scotch Corner 11 miles • Darlington 18 miles

(Train – Darlington to London 2½ hrs)

(All distances are approximate)

The AccommodationMain House

Great Hall · Great Chamber (library) · Inner Chamber (study) · Long Room (drawing room) · Low Parlour (dining room)

Kitchen · Laundry · Wine cellar · Master bedroom suite · Guest bedroom suite

4 further bedrooms · 2 further bathrooms · 2 cloakrooms

East WingKitchen · 2 reception rooms · 3 bedrooms · 2 bathrooms

Outbuildings and GroundsCourtyard garden · Kitchen garden and flower garden · Tennis court · Garden stores and garaging

Grade II listed farmyard and stables by Sir Thomas Robinson · 5 acres of ornamental woodland

70 acres of parkland on the banks of the River Tees

In all about 80 acres.

12 The Bank, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8PQ

Tel: 01833 [email protected]

www.gscgrays.co.uk

5 & 6 Bailey Court, Colburn Business Park,Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL9 4QL

Tel: 01748 [email protected]

www.gscgrays.co.uk




SituationMortham Tower is located on the confluence of the River Tees and River Greta, known as the ‘Meeting of the Waters’, about 3 miles south of Barnard Castle in what was formerly North Yorkshire and is now County Durham. The house is perfectly set in a slightly elevated position giving views over the parkland to the River Tees and shelter from mature amenity woodland.

Barnard Castle is the nearest market town and is named after the castle of the Baliol family. It is the main settlement in Teesdale and includes the Bowes Museum and Barnard Castle School. The historic town of Richmond is only about 12 miles and Darlington with its East Coast mainline rail station is about 18 miles east with a regular service to London and Edinburgh (both about 2 ½ hours).

The recently upgraded A1/Scotch Corner is 11 miles east along the A66 which links the A1 to the M6 at Penrith. Durham Tees Valley International Airport is 18 miles and Leeds Bradford Airport is 50 miles away.

North Yorkshire has a rich natural heritage with The Dales and The North York Moors National Parks close by. The Lake District too is within easy striking distance.

Historical NotesAccording to Pevsner, Mortham Tower was originally one of the pele-towers of the Borders before the additions of the 14th and 15th centuries, describing them as “marking the transition from a castle to a fortified manor house”.




Mortham Tower was built to replace the original house which was burned by the Scots in the reign of Edward II, the site of which was measured as “two bow-shots” from the old house.

The Tower was acquired by Sir Thomas Rokeby through his marriage to the heiress of the Morton family and he built the first addition to the Tower. This included the Great Hall beside the Tower and East and West Wings to form the courtyard which he enclosed on the south side by a battlemented wall. Sir Thomas’ coat of arms, carved in stone, is still clearly visible in the courtyard. The Great Chamber, Inner Chamber and Low Parlour were added to the North side of the Tower by his descendants during the 15th century.

Mortham Tower stayed in the family until the early 18th century when it was bought by Sir Thomas Robinson, who by then had acquired the whole of Rokeby Estate. Sir Thomas Robinson was a renowned Palladian architect who, not content with a medieval tower-house, went on to build Rokeby Park on the site of the old house but in doing so also built up considerable debts and was forced to sell the estate, including Mortham Tower, to the Morritt family.

Mortham was much admired by Sir Walter Scott who regularly visited his friend JBS Morritt at Rokeby Park. Morritt constructed an artificial cave just below Mortham for Scott to write in and which is still there and from where Scott is reputed to have set his epic poem “Rokeby” at Mortham Tower in 1812.

“The situation of Mortham is eminently beautiful, occupying a high bank, at the bottom of which the Greta winds out of the dark, narrow and romantic dell, which the text has attempted to describe, and flows onward through a more open valley to meet the Tees, about a quarter of a mile from the castle.” By Walter Scott.

During the early 20th century Mortham suffered a period of neglect from which it was rescued by Linda Morritt (Mrs Rhodes-Moorhouse) who bought it from her brother in 1938: her restoration of Mortham was described in Country Life on 6 July 1945. “By restricting themselves to making good the structure and adapting it cleverly and sympathetically to modern requirements, [her architects] have successfully accomplished an unexceptionable restoration, bringing back to life an historic building without prejudicing its archaeological significance.”

DescriptionMortham Tower is an exceptional Grade I listed property on the Durham-North Yorkshire border which is well documented as one of the best-preserved and most picturesque medieval fortified manor houses in the North of England.

Mortham Tower is approached along a private lane running between the River Tees and Rokeby Park leading over a stone bridge (Dairy Bridge) across the River Greta and into the open parkland of Mortham Tower. The drive then sweeps gently uphill to the gate and forecourt at the north front of the house

Built and added to over the centuries, Mortham can be defined by its Tower and its various wings including East and West Wings, main Pele Tower, Great Hall and Great and Inner Chambers around the central courtyard, the fourth or south side of which is enclosed by a crenelated wall with an arched gateway in the middle. Mortham Tower has only changed hands 6 times in the last 700 years.

The main entrance to Mortham Tower leads into the magnificent full height Great Hall with minstrels gallery and coach house doors on two sides opening to the central courtyard garden and to the north front. There are two small bedrooms and a bathroom, known as The Bachelors’, above the cloakroom and illuminated boiler room and at the top of the galleried staircase that leads up from the Hall. From the Great Hall a glazed iron door leads to a stone stairwell, up to the Great Chamber and the stone spiral staircase to the Middle and Upper Tower rooms housing the principal bedroom suites or down to the Lower Tower Bedroom suite, to the Parlour and to the Nursery Bedroom.




The Great Chamber is an extremely fine room dating from the 15th century with a heavily moulded chestnut ceiling and a magnificent fireplace. A door in the north corner of the room leads into the Inner Chamber with another fine stone fireplace and a 16th century moulded ceiling in one of the window embrasures serving as a library and study. A door in the west corner of the Great Chamber leads into the Lounge Gallery with its Butler’s cupboards, and into the magnificent Long Room.

Below the Great Chamber is the Parlour which also dates from the 15th century and now serves as the dining room. North of the Parlour is the kitchen which has views over the garden and includes a gas-fired Aga, oak and slate units and a spacious larder. There is also a fitted back kitchen and laundry as well as a rear cloakroom and access to the North side of the house and the forecourt. The Kitchen, Larder, Laundry and rear cloakroom are all fully tiled in Delft pattern tiles and the floors are paved in local limestone with underfloor heating from a separate gas boiler in the Laundry.

The West stair hall leads to the Lower Tower bedroom and its bathroom with fitted sauna and to the Nursery bedroom beyond. The West Wing ends with the Wine Cellar, accessible only from the Courtyard.


East WingThe East Wing at Mortham Tower is separated from the main accommodation by a gated wall into the courtyard garden. It has been beautifully converted from a lofted byre into a three bedroom annex with two bathrooms, north and south sitting rooms and an open plan kitchen with an Aga and doors to the central courtyard and to the Kitchen Garden. The ground floor is paved in local limestone with underfloor heating from a gas boiler in the kitchen.



OutsideThe main lawn lies along the west elevation adjacent to a sunny west terrace with topiary, herbaceous borders and sheltering stone walls. To the south of the house and beyond the crenelated wall of the Courtyard Garden is the South lawn which merges by cut paths into an area of woodland and flowering shrubs bounded by the steep sided cliffs of the River Greta and known as the Glade. This area is particularly noted for its wild flowers and woodland pathways. Within the Glade is to be found the Herm of Ceres and beyond it is Scott’s Cave; an artificial cave cut into the limestone cliff above the Greta with a stone bench and upright slabs at each corner supporting the roof.

On the East side of the East Wing is an enclosed Kitchen and Flower Garden, laid out in geometrical beds with two greenhouses. A gate in the wall leads through to a paddock separating the main house and gardens from the Farmyard, known as The Garth.

The Farmyard buildings are separately listed (Grade II) and are attributed to Sir Thomas Robinson; it consists of a symmetrically arched stone courtyard with a range of stores, byres and mangers around three sides with an open front to the east. It also includes a former hay loft which has been refloored and insulated providing excellent dry storage with potential as an estate office. Beyond the outbuildings are two duck ponds and an all-weather tennis court and tennis hut surrounded by ornamental trees and tall hedges.

LandMortham Park lies mainly to the North and East of the house. It extends to about 70 acres of rolling parkland with mature parkland trees and magnificent views over open countryside. The park gently slopes away from the house down to the River Tees. The banks of the Tees are low on the Mortham side with craggy and wooded limestone cliffs opposite providing a dramatic backdrop. The Eastern boundary of the Park is marked by Thorpe Beck and enclosed by Thorpe Scar, which is steep and wooded. In the middle of the park are believed to be the foundations of the villa of the commanding officer of the Roman Garrison at Greta Bridge, as yet unexcavated.

The parkland is grazed under a Farm Business Tenancy expiring on the 30th March 2019.




ServicesMains electricity and back up gas-powered 45KW generator. Mains water and independent well water from a private borehole. Private drainage. Oil fired central heating and hot water. Gas-fired Agas and underfloor heating in main house and East Wing and gas boilers in large greenhouse and Farmyard supplied by two underground LPG tanks.

Fixtures and FittingsOnly those mentioned in these sales particulars are included in the sale. All others such as fitted curtains, light fittings, garden ornaments, paintings and tapestries are specifically excluded but may be made available by separate negotiation.

ViewingsStrictly by appointment through the Selling Agents, GSC Grays. Tel: 01748 897627.

Directions (DL12 3RZ)Mortham Tower is located 3 miles south east of Barnard Castle. From Scotch Corner follow the A66 west for approximately 10miles before turning right signed “Bowes Museum” and “Barnard Castle”. Follow the road keeping the stone wall of Rokeby Park on your right hand side. When the road bends left just after the gates of Rokeby Park, take the right turn marked “Private Road”. Follow the lane to its end, cross the Dairy Bridge over the Greta and through an electric wooden gate into the Park and the house is at the top of the sweeping drive.

Rights of Way and WayleavesMortham Tower is to be sold subject to and with the benefit of all existing rights including rights of way, whether public or private, light, drainage, water and electricity supplies, and all other rights, obligations, easements or covenants whether disclosed or not. There is public access to the estate via a footpath over the Dairy Bridge. Details can be found on the Durham Council Rights of Way site.

Local AuthorityDurham County Council Tel: 0300 026 0000

Council TaxCouncil Tax Band H


Drain

Path (um)

Pa th (um

)

Church

Cross(remains of)

(site of)

CR Meeting of the Waters

Rive

r Gre

ta

Chalybeate Spring

Pipeline

Monument

Dairy Bridge

Path

(um

)

Path (um)

Path

(um

)

Scott's Cave

Cattle Grid

Mortham Tower

Sinks

Pond

Pond

Ford

Old Tomb

Track

Path (um)

Track

Track

Mortham Wood

Cattle Grid

1.22

m F

F

CR

1.22

m F

F

1.22m FF

River Tees

Issues

Mortham

Shingle

West Thorpe Wood

Shingle

CS

River Tees

Shingle

Cross Berry Plantation

Shingle

Waterfall

Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Map with the sanction of the Controllerof HM Stationery Office. Licence no. 100043767. Crown Copyright reserved.

This Plan is based upon the Ordnance Survey Map with the sanction of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. Crown Copyright reserved. (100043767). This Plan is published for the convenience of Purchasers only. Its accuracy is not guaranteed and it is expressly excluded from any contract. NOT TO SCALE.

This Plan is based upon the Ordnance Survey Map with the sanction of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. Crown Copyright reserved. (100043767). This Plan is published for the convenience of Purchasers only. Its accuracy is not guaranteed and it is expressly excluded from any contract. NOT TO SCALE.

Energy PerformanceA house of significant historical importance and Listed as Grade 1 an Energy Performance Certificate is not required.

Particulars and PhotographsThese particulars were written and photographs taken in May 2018.

Important Notice PLEASE READ: GSC Grays gives notice to anyone who may read these particulars as follows:1. These particulars, including any plan, are a general guide only and do not form any part of

any offer or contract.2. All descriptions, including photographs, dimensions and other details are given in good

faith but do not amount to our presentation or warranty. This should not be relied upon as statements of facts and anyone interested must satisfy themselves as to their corrections by inspection or otherwise.

3. Neither GSC Grays nor the vendors accept responsibility for any error that these particulars may contain however caused.

4. Any plan is for guidance once only and is not drawn to scale. All dimensions, shapes, and compass bearings are approximate and you should not rely on them without checking them first.

5. Nothing in these particulars shall be deemed to be a statement that the property is in good condition, repair or otherwise nor that any services or facilities are in good working order.

6. Please discuss with us any aspects that are important to you prior to travelling to the property.

Particulars written: June 2018Photographs taken: May 2018.



Documents

MORTHAM TOWER - OnTheMarket€¦ · Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL9 4QL Tel: 01748 897610 [email protected] . MORTHAM TOWER 3. ARNARD ASTLE • COUNTY URHAM/NORTH ORKSHIRE ORDER 4