Crook Hall

Crook Hall, sited near Lanchester, County Durham, some 8 miles (13 km) north west of the city of Durham, was the seat of the Baker family and one of two Roman Catholic seminaries which temporarily replaced the Douai seminary in Douai, France when that college was suppressed soon after the French Revolution.

[1] First documented in the Boldon Book as “Cruketon pays four marks.” It is also listed in Bishops Hatfield's survey (1381) as, "John de Kirkby held the vill of Crokhogh and a hundred acres of arable arid woodland, by knight's service and 2s.

Sir George served as a recorder of Newcastle-on-Tyne and was a defender of that town for King Charles during the Civil War.

George Baker MP, grandson of the original owner and member of parliament for Durham City, remodelled the house in 1716.

The mansion was at that time unoccupied since Baker had moved his primary residence to Elemore Hall.