Coxhoe Hall is located between the villages of Coxhoe and Kelloe in County Durham. Coxhoe village is south east of Junction 61 off the A1 motorway on the A177 road.
Coxhoe Hall was a five bay, two and a half story house of c.1725, built for John Burdon, on the site of a Tudor house. This plain, classical residence was later given a Gothic trim, with battlements and pointed windows, and was the birth place of the poet Elizabeth Barratt-Browning (born 6 March 1806).
The medieval house on the site belonged to the Blakiston Family from c.1400 to 1600, and afterwards to the Kennets and the Earls of Seaforth. John Burdon, responsible for rebuilding the house, also created the landscape gardens at Hardwick Hall, near Sedgefield. The house was bought by the East Hetton Colliery Company in 1938 and was used to house Italian and German prisoners-of-war during WW2. The hall was condemned as unsafe by the National Coal Board and demolished in 1956, leaving the ground plan and service yard still visible. Cellars are now filled with rubble and appear to contain much decorative plaster work from the demolished structure. The drive and gate posts still remain, as does a walled garden to the North-East which is now much overgrown.
The remains of the house and the surrounding woodland are under the care of Durham City Council and the area has been designated as a Nature Reserve. Open access is available to the public. It is a popular site for those with an interest in wildlife, local history and just the pleasure of taking in the beautiful English countryside.
Information is available from
Coxhoe Hall Wood Local Nature Reserve
Durham City Council,
Department of Environmental Services
Byland Lodge,
Hawthorn Terrace,
Durham,
DH1 4TD.