Carham Hall

The Compton family purchased the estate in 1754 and the following year erected the first Carham Hall, a relatively plain building in the Classical style.

The hall passed to the Hodgson family and in 1870 Richard Hodgson-Huntley ordered it be rebuilt on a grander scale, in four bays.

The hall and estate were afterwards owned by the Perkins family, a daughter of which, Nancy, married William Matthew Burrell in 1903.

Nancy Burrell commissioned Scottish architect James Bow Dunn to extend the hall in 1920.

This extension added a further four bays to the western end of the structure, creating a larger, linear building.

The current hall has some Jacobethan styling but is demonstrative of the Scottish influence on this part of Northern England.

[1] The main south elevation is of eight bays; the easternmost four correspond to the layout of the original Victorian Hall while the western four are the 1922 extension.

A resident of the hall, Richard Hodgson, was responsible for designing St Cuthbert's Church in nearby Carham in 1790.

Hodgson-Huntley is thought to have ordered the rebuilding of Carham Hall in 1870, as a mark of his high social status.

[1] Carham Hall later came into the possession of Charles Perkins whose second daughter, Nancy, married William Matthew Burrell in 1903.

Dunn returned in 1920 to direct the construction of a significant extension to the west, according to the Pevsner Architectural Guides this work was carried out for Nancy Burrell and completed in 1922.

Planning permission is not required to demolish non-listed structures in England outside of conservation areas but the local authority must approve the method of demolition to minimise dust and nuisance.

[4] Describing the structure as "a good example of an evolved English country house" in a "well-executed Tudor Revival design ... [with] a handsome principal elevation", they restored the hall to its original grade II listing on 23 April 2021.

After the relisting The Victorian Society requested that Northumberland County Council work with Straker-Smith to find a suitable purpose for the hall, warning that there was a risk that it could be left to deteriorate until permission to demolish it was forthcoming.