| Summary : The present Bessie Surtees House, now of five storeys, is an amalgam of two formerly separate houses: Milbank House (number 44 Sandhill), probably 16th century with later alterations including a brink frontage added about 1741) and the actual Surtees House (41 Sandhill); mainly of the 17th century, with later heightening to form a garrett. The core of the Milbank House element is a timber framed building , which originally may have had only 2 storeys, with sandstone party walls: additional floors were added in the post medieval period as was a timber framed wing. A 19th century shop front is on the ground floor, this may have been refronted around 1900. Surtees House was built on the site of an earlier medieval building noted in 1465. The core of Surtees house is generally considered to be a 17th century timber framed building using post and rail construction, with the later brick frontage added as noted above: however dendrochronological (tree-ring) dating published in 2010 revealed at least one major earlier structural timber- a storey post dating to the earlier 16th century. The buildings were amalgamated ifrom 1931 under the aegis of Lord Gort. A rear wing, the so-called "Maddison House" was also built for Lord Gort in the 1930s and incorporated many genuine 17th century features and earlier timbers. Also at this time the first floor ceiling, in a Jacobean style, was added. Restoration and alteration work to the amalgamated property was carried out in the 1980s when the building became a local English Heritage Office. The house is famous as being the house from which Bessie Surtees, a merchant's daughter, eloped in 1772 with John Scott- the future Lord Eldon, Chancellor of England. It is in the care of English Heritage and part of the building is open to the public. |
More information : The present Bessie Surtees house subsumes numbers 41, 42 and 43 Sandhill, Newcastle upon Tyne and includes the former Milbank House. These were formerly 2 houses of the 16th and 17th centuries, later shops. the left hand house was refronted circa 1721 with alterations carried out circa 1931. They are five storeys high, of timber frame construction and brick. There is a 19th century shop front to the ground floor at the left hand building. The interiors contain panelling and Jacobean features, some of which come from other houses, introduced as part of Lord Gort's restoration. Listed Grade I, situated at NZ 25168 63845. See designated description for full details. The house is famous as being the place from which Bessie Surtees, a merchant's daughter, eloped with the future Lord Eldon, Chancellor of England. (1)
Source 2 comprises detailed documentary and structural development histories of bessie Surtees House including Milbank house and the so-called "Maddison House"- the 1930s addition to the rear. The former Millbank House, 44 Sandhill, is a timber framed Late Medieval house with a brick frontage laid in English Garden Wall bond added circa 1741, now comprising five storeys. The oldest part of the house is a timber framed building of four pays with sandstone party walls set at right angles to the line of the street. The earliest phase of the building may have only been two-storeyed. The house may originally have had a gable to the street. The construction of the early building is not easy to date exactly but is consistent with the period 1400-1600. In the Post-Medieval period the house was enlarged by the addition of extra storeys, a rear wing of 4 storeys and a brick stack were also added. There was a further phase of rennovation in the 18th century. There is a shop front to the ground floor, which was refronted around 1900. It is likley that the first phase of the actual present Surtees House (41 Sandhill) dates to the mid 17th century, using post and rail construction. Later it was heightened to form a garret, and the addition of a rear wing and staircase. It now has 5 storeys. In 1931 the two houses were rennovated and amalgamated by the Hon. SR Vereker, (who later became Viscount Gort). A number of architectural features were imported into the house from other properties and an L-shaped building- "Maddison House" was added. There were also repairs and rennovation and alterations made in the 1980s, partly to enable use as an office for English Heritage. (2)
A brief accessible overview of the history of Bessie Surtees House for visitors. (3)
For an architectural description of Bessie Surtees House in the context of a perambulation of Sandhill , see the volume on Northumberland in the "Buildings of England" series by Pevsner. (4)
In 2008 a programme of tree ring dating was undertaken on the Bessie Surtees House complex of buildings in order to inform the management and interpretation of this Guardianship Property and to comply with planning permission for some recent modifications. The subsequent report archives the dendrochronological results. 53 timbers were taken from across the building and 42 proved suitable for further analysis. Those from Milbank House fell into two clusters of dates, those from levels 2-3 were broadly in the first half of the16th century (with one very closly dated to having been felled in the Spring of 1511 AD and one circa 1550) and those from levels 4 and 6 were broadly early 17th century. The results for Surtees House itself indicated that the major structural elements of level one included at least one early 16th century, potentially putting this part of the building in a previously undocumented period for the property. There was an even earlier timber form a doorway but this may have been introduced by Gort. A wall plate for the stairs leading up from level one dated to 1648-75. The rear range roof dated to circa 1651 when the house was in the hands of the Cock or Davidson familes; whilst the main front roof dates from circa 1615. A sample from the 20th century Maddison house indicated introduced recycled timber felled after circa 1520. The report published in 2010 includes dating charts for all the samples and shows in plans and elevations where the samples came from. (5) |