Axwell House (also Axwell Hall or Axwell Park) is a mansion house and

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, at Axwell Park,

Blaydon Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blaydon/Winl ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

, England. The house and surrounding estate were constructed in 1758 and owned by the

Clavering baronets The Baronetcy of Clavering of Axwell was created in the Baronetage of England on 5 June 1661 for James Clavering, the grandson of James Clavering (1565–1630), a merchant adventurer of Newcastle upon Tyne, who was mayor of that city and who boug ...

until 1920. The house became a school, but fell into disrepair in the 1980s. Houses have been built on the former stables and walled garden, and in 2020 there were plans to convert the house into apartments.

History

An early manor house on the site was acquired by James Clavering, a merchant adventurer of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1629 for £1,700. In 1758 his descendant Sir Thomas Clavering of the

replaced the house with a substantial mansion and assisted architect James Paine (1712–1789) in the Palladian design of the new house. The grounds were laid out in the style of

Capability Brown Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style. Unlike other architects ...

. Alterations were around 1818 by John Dobson. The hall and its surrounding was converted for use as the Newcastle

Ragged School Ragged schools were charitable organisations dedicated to the free education of destitute children in 19th-century Great Britain, Britain. The schools were developed in working-class districts and intended for society's most impoverished youngste ...

in 1920. It was initially an Industrial School and then an

Approved school An approved school was a type of residential institution in the United Kingdom to which young people could be sent by a court, usually for committing offences but sometimes because they were deemed to be beyond parental control. They were model ...

. It had spaces for 153 children and closed in 1981. Having stood empty, neglected and deteriorating the property and park were acquired in 2005 by property developers Eight Property Ltd, for restoration and conversion to residential use. The company built 27 apartments and houses on the site of the stable block but conversion of the house was not achieved. In 2020, plans were approved for another developer to convert the house – described as an empty shell – into apartments.

Architecture

The three-storey stone building has a slate roof. The south front has a three-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

with a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. It was designated as a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in 1985. Some of the walls and

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

s are also listed, as is the late 18th or early 19th century

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

bridge south of the house. The attached farm has a late 18th or early 19th century

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

. The grounds also included a dairy, walled kitchen garden and stables.

References

{{Coord, 54, 57, 10, N, 1, 42, 11, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures in Gateshead Grade II* listed buildings in Tyne and Wear Country houses in Tyne and Wear