Horsley Hall

This article is about the house in England. For the house in Wales, see Horsley Hall, Gresford.

Horsley Hall is a 17th-century country house, now in use as a hotel, near Stanhope, County Durham, England. It is a Grade II listed building.

Horsley Hall
Horsley Hall, 2010
Location in County Durham
General information
Location	County Durham, England, UK
Coordinates	54.741°N 2.056°W / 54.741; -2.056
OS grid	NY965385

The manor house at Horsley was built in the 17th century but much enlarged during the 18th century. In 1808 the estate was purchased by the Reverend Henry Hildyard of Stokesley, a member of a junior branch of the Hildyards of Patrington, Yorkshire (see Hildyard Baronets). The family carried out extensions and additions to the house during the 19th century to create the present three storey, eight bayed mansion.

Several members of the Hildyard family served as High Sheriff of Durham in 1850, 1863, 1900 and 1947.

The Hildyards sold the estate in 1954 and moved to Yorkshire. After some years of neglect the house was refurbished and converted for use as a hotel.

The Hildyard family

The Reverend Henry Hildyard (1752-1832) bought Horsley Hall in the early 19th Century. He had inherited the estates of his maternal uncle Henry Thorpe of Bishop Auckland who died a bachelor in 1779.^[1] One of the estates that he inherited was the Manor House in Stokesley.^[2] In 1780 he married Phyllis Ann Westgarth (1752-1817) who was the daughter and coheiress of John Westgarth of Unthank Hall in Stanhope. Unthank Hall was brought into the Hildyard family. When Henry died in 1832 his son Robert Hildyard inherited Horsley Hall.

John Richard Westgarth Hildyard in about 1850

Robert Hildyard (1787-1854) was the High Sherrif for Durham. He did not marry so when he died in 1854 he left his estates to his nephew John Richard Westgarth Hale (1813-1888) who changed his surname from Hale to Hildyard when he inherited his uncle's estates.^[3]

Pauline Mansel Morgan, wife of Edward John Westgarth Hildyard in 1939

John Richard Westgarth Hildyard (1813-1888) was a barrister. In 1860 he married Mary Blanch Neave (1831-1916) who was the daughter of Sir Richard Digby Neave. The couple had three sons and six daughters. In 1859 he bought the Hutton Bonville estate and the family alternated their households between the two residences.^[4] He was responsible for the construction of All Saints Church in Eastgate in 1888.^[5] When he died in 1888 his eldest son John Arundell Hildyard became the owner of the hall.

John Arundell Hildyard (1861-1935) did not marry so when he died in 1935 in accordance with his father's will he was succeeded by his brother Edward Digby Hildyard (1864-1940).^[6] Edward married in 1910 Helen Lucy Egerton (1872-1966).^[7] Their eldest son Edward John Westgarth Hildyard (1913-1964). He married Pauline Mansel Morgan (1917-1994) in 1939. She was the only daughter of Llewelyn Morgan of Anglesea.^[8] The couple lived at the Hall until 1954 when they sold the estate and moved to Middleton Hall in Pickering Yorkshire which they also owned.