Seaham Hall
| Seaham Hall | |
|---|---|
 Seaham Hall Hotel. (The water feature in the foreground is named 'Charybdis') | |
  Seaham Hall | |
| OS grid reference | NZ421505 |
| Coordinates | 54°50′53″N 1°20′42″W / 54.848°N 1.345°WCoordinates: 54°50′53″N 1°20′42″W / 54.848°N 1.345°W |
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Seaham Hall is now an English country house, now run as a spa hotel, in County Durham.
History
In 1815 the poet Lord Byron married Anne Isabella Milbanke at Seaham Hall. The only fruit of their marriage was Ada Lovelace, mathematician.
Londonderry
Seaham Hall was one of the many properties acquired by Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry through his second marriage to Lady Frances Anne Vane-Tempest in 1819. She was one of the greatest heiresses of the time. She stood to inherit nearly 65,000 acres (260 km2). The Londonderrys developed one of the County Durham estates into what is now the modern harbour town of Seaham. This town was designed to rival nearby Sunderland. The title Viscount Seaham was created as a courtesy title for the eldest son of the marriage, who became Earl Vane on his father's death; however, when the 4th Marquess of Londonderry died childless Earl Vane inherited the Londonderry titles and his eldest son took the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh.
However, for much of his life the 3rd Marquess lived at Plas Machynlleth, his wife's home in Montgomeryshire. The family did not spend much time at this residence but used their Irish house - Mount Stewart, which was more impressive.
Benjamin Disraeli visited Seaham Hall in 1861.
C20
The house became a hospital during World War I, closing in 1978.
Modern use
The building during the 1980s and 1990s has been redeveloped as a hotel, a nursing home and finally a luxury 5 star hoteland Spa.
In 1984, it was acquired by the Jalal family of Sunderland who worked at rebuilding, renovating and returning the deteriorated building to its former glory. The vision, determination and entrepreneurial spirit in using local skilled workforce to develop an establishment that most had abandoned was key to its survival today. It was opened in 1985 as the Seaham Hal Hotel and this remained in the hands of the Jalal family of Anglo-Arab Descent for nearly 6 years whereby the people of Seaham were given the opportunity to once again experience memories and the heritage of the building and its grounds. The Jalal's are a group of 4 sons all well-known engineers and the 9 grand-children [Cameron,Brooke,Grayson,Oriana,Kieran,Kai,Lewis,Sophie,Amelia] nee to Mrs Jean Jalal and Kusia Jalal. In 1991; it was sold by the Jalal family to Dr Mohinder Singh Mullea, a local doctor who also owned Tara House; an old people's residential home and was officially converted to an old peoples home in 1991.
See also