Staithes,
North Yorkshire
0800 840 41 41

Seaton Hall History

Seaton Court - A brief history by William Kidd.

This structure originally comprised a two storey servants and domestic quarters built to be a short distance from the house - Seaton Hall. The Hall, itself a small manor house, the core of which dates back to about 1480, would not have been big enough to have housed servants (who were also likely to have been farm hands), in washing, baking and kitchen quarters. In an area of frequent high winds it would have made more sense to have such activities outside the house, as the properties then would have been thatched, and therfore subject to increased fire risk.

In 1775 there was mention of the house having around 7 rooms. Thus on the 1850 OS map the supposed servants quarters is shown as a detached property prior to the courtyard being enclosed on all sides. The hall being shown as 'L' shaped. By 1915 the map shows an enclosed courtyard with a remodelled house - no longer an 'L' shape as it now stands. Thus the double height great hall in Seaton Court now linking the old servants quarters with the house was built after 1850 and is likely to have been erected as part of the Palmers' (Tyneside industrialists who bought the estate from the Marquis of Normanby) extensive remodelling of the farm in common with their other properties nearby.

Recent land clearing works have revealed the presence of a pre-1480 moat and the remains of a 5 foot thick wall to the south of the east wing. Foundations found deep under the front lawn suggest a large former structure pre-dating the L shaped house shown on the 1850 map. The topography of site itself with its sharp edged escarpment would have made a natural defensive location. Given these discoveries the question is - was there a defended manor house / castle here enclosed on two or three sides by a moat and with defensive walls where no moat could be excavated due to land levels ? The de Brus family originally occupied neighbouring Castleton and Danby castles - anecdotal evidence has suggested they also had a hunting lodge at Seaton - as overlords of some 90 manors in the North they may have needed defensive properties wherever they stayed. Records show that Uctred held the manor shortly after the conquest but he also held many more manors and very likely did not reside here.

The manor escaped the wasting of the North by William - did Uctred hold special status to avoid this : was he helped by association with the Saxon church nearby, if, as the Rev John Graves claims in his History of Cleveland, this Hinderwell Church was probably a retreat of St. Hilda, and would the respect for the church and its ancient connection with Whitby Abbey have been the reason not to waste the land ? Alternatively, was Williams' intention to hand these manors of Uctred over to his relative Count de Mortain and one of his close supporters - Nigel de Fossard and not 'waste' this manor ?

The 1850 map shows the neighbouring ridge named as Park Rigg - is this a reference to the survival of an old Norman deer park ? The deer currently seen in such large numbers in the fields opposite and below Seaton Hall may well be the descendants of such a hunting park. Permission from the monarch was required to empark land for keeping of deer.

In the 13th century ancient legal and court records have noted the existence of a family by the name of de Seton, de Seton's have owned land and been about in this area (Skinningrove) until at least the 17th century. It is thought that Adam de Seton who held the manor of Seton lived in the manor house and was the 'factor' (or one of them) of the de Brus family. de Setons also went on to own manors and land in and around Stockton (Preston) and elsewhere.

Both de Seton and de Brus families are intertwined in Scotland where Robert de Bruce and Chrystal de Seton came to respectively rule and hold sway over that country. Both families originated in Cleveland.

After the fleeing of the de Setons from this manor in 1307 to join the branch of the de Brus family which had moved to Scotland, the manor of Seton become part of the de Mauleys' great interests centred upon Mulgrave estate and castle.

Eight generations of de Mauleys' all called Peter died out in the male line and a daughter of the last de Mauley married Bigod of Settrington near Malton.

Thus it came that Francis Bigod was born at Seaton Hall in 1507. It was probably shortly before this that whatever was left of the old de Mauley cum de Seton manor house was raised to the ground and the new `L' shaped Tudor house was built on a small scale probably as a dower house to Mulgrave Castle.

However Francis' Father and Uncle were killed in the service of the King at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 and he was made a ward of Cardinal Wolsey. Educated at Court and at Oxford, Francis considered his future at Seaton Hall - which he described as a poor sort of house ill befitting his position - with some despair. However he was also a major land owner and recently knighted, having over 200 tenant farmers in his combined estates of Mulgrave and Settrington.

His keenness to find ways of ingratiating himself with the King led to his meddling in the affairs of local monasteries but then siding with them when an uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace perhaps provided a possible opening for alternative (and ill judged) advancement for him, but which instead led to his execution in 1537. His brother, Ralph, lived on at Seaton Hall until his death in 1548 having no heirs of his own the estates passed to the Ratcliffe family whose former manor house can be seen at Ugthorpe Old Hall. This run down former manor house still surviving in original form may well have been very similar to the old Seaton Hall.

Domestic property in early Tudor times was not what it became under Georgian or Stuart Monarchs - cash was scarce in a largely agrarian society and feudalism was still a legacy not that far behind. There were few large scale domestic structures at this time. Noble Families were only just venturing out of defended properties into more domestic ones and the Scottish threat from the nearby border raiding parties was always a menace. The manor was noted in 1645 as suffering at the hands of a Scottish army of occupation and a cannon ball, probably dating to this time, has been found in the soil under the main staircase of the house pre dating the construction of this part of the house extended in Regency times.

Following Ralph Bigods' death no owner was to occupy Seaton Hall again for some 450 years. In the hands of tenant farmers the old hall was relegated in status to that of a farm. In 2002 the house and 70 acres was purchased by the current owner. The buildings were at that time in considerable dereliction. The house was not habitable and the courtyard was in a sad state with a Dutch barn in its middle and old stone arches removed to allow tractors to be kept in the buildings.

An extensive programme of restoration and enhancement was launched in July 2002 and works have continued since that time. Thousands of tons of concrete have been dug up and crushed. Corrugated iron lean to sheds along the whole of the western elevations were removed. Gardens have been restored and new ones made. 30,000 trees have been planted replacing those felled when the estate was heavily mortgaged in Jacobean times.

Old foundations were found and conserved under the house with mullioned windows found hidden under plaster to the old west 'crow stepped' gable. There has been a 3 year search for the right approach to conservation of the courtyard and some viable future use found for it. Works have continued unabated to those parts with suitable planning permission while the remainder of the courtyard awaits further advice from consultants and the planning authority on change of use. Once these issues have been resolved work will continue. (At present the attention of guests is drawn to the areas out of bounds for health and safety reasons. Building works do not continue when guests are in residence. Please do not enter any fenced off areas.)