Bavington Hall is a 17th-century privately owned country house at Little Bavington in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. It is a

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 ...

. A

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...

(Little Bavington Tower) was recorded on the site in 1415, but this was replaced in the late 17th century by the

Shafto family The Shafto family is an alternative surname for the Ffolliot family, who were established in the 14th century at Shafto Crag, Northumberland and adopted the alternative surname of Shafto. Shafto of Little Bavington, Northumberland In the 15th ce ...

. The Shaftos acquired the estate when William Shafto married the Bavington heiress in the 15th century.''Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland'' (1839) p1358 Google Books In 1716 William Shafto and his son John were

attainted In English criminal law, attainder was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary titles, but ...

for their part in the

Jacobite rising of 1715 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Francis Edward Stuart, James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland ...

and the estate was forfeited and sold by the Crown to Admiral

George Delaval Vice-Admiral George Delaval ( – 22 June 1723) was a Royal Navy officer, diplomat and Whig politician who served as the British ambassador to Portugal from 1710 to 1714. He also represented West Looe in the House of Commons of Great Britain f ...

. On his death Delaval restored the property to the Shafto family by bequeathing the estate to his brother-in-law George Delaval Shafto (

High Sheriff of Northumberland This is a list of the high sheriffs of the English county of Northumberland. The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries ...

1739 and Member of Parliament for

1757–74). Significant alterations and improvements to the three-storey, seven-bayed house were carried out in 1720, 1851 and 1930. The Shafto family sold the property in 1994. The present owners offer holiday accommodation in cottages in the grounds. The grounds contain a grotto, statues and other features which are Grade II listed.

References

{{Authority control Grade II* listed buildings in Northumberland