Washington Old Hall is a historic

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals ...

Washington, Tyne and Wear Washington is a town in the City of Sunderland district of Tyne and Wear, England. Historically part of County Durham, it is the ancestral settlement of the Washington family, which George Washington descended from. It is located between Ches ...

, England, United Kingdom. It lies in the centre of Washington, being surrounded by other villages. The building was the ancestral home of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

(1732–1799), the first president of the United States.

History

WASHINGTON OLD HALL INTERIOR, TYNE AND WEAR, ENGLAND

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

de Hertburne (originally William Bayard), an ancestor of George Washington, assumed tenancy of the Wessyngtonlands from the

Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

in the late 12th century. Soon after, he changed his name to William de Wessyngton (later Washington). In the early 15th century Sir William Mallory married Dionysia Tempest, the last Wessyngton heir at the Hall. Dionysia was daughter of Sir William Tempest and his cousin, Eleanor Wessyngton. In 1613, Sir John Mallory (a descendant of Sir William Mallory and Dionysia Tempest) and Anna Eure, shareholders in the

Virginia Company The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day Mai ...

, moved south to

Sulgrave Manor Sulgrave Manor, Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, England is a mid-16th century Tudor hall house built by Lawrence Washington, the great-great-great-great-grandfather of George Washington, first President of the United States. The manor passed out of ...

in Northamptonshire, and the manor was sold to the Bishop of Durham. The Hall continued to be used as a residence until the 19th century, when it became

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

flats and gradually fell into disrepair. In 1936 the building was declared unfit for human habitation, and was rescued from demolition by Fred Hill, a local teacher, who created what is now the "Friends of the Old Hall" to press for restoration of the building. Restoration began in 1937. Preservation work stopped during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, but was completed in 1955. The building was opened by the American Ambassador, Winthrop W. Aldrich. In 1957 the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

assumed responsibility for the building. As a result of these historic ties, in 2007, Washington, D.C. and the

City of Sunderland The City of Sunderland () is a metropolitan borough with city status in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is named after its largest settlement, Sunderland, spanning a far larger area, including nearby towns incl ...

announced a "friendship agreement," hoping to create cultural and economic ties with one another.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1180s establishments in England Grade I listed buildings in Tyne and Wear Historic house museums in Tyne and Wear Houses completed in the 17th century Manor houses in England Museums in the City of Sunderland National Trust properties in Tyne and Wear Rebuilt buildings and structures in the United Kingdom Stone houses Washington family residences Washington, Tyne and Wear

History

References

Further reading

External links