Shotley Park

[1] The house was built by Jonathan Richardson, the founder of Shotley Bridge Spa, the driving force in the town’s rapid growth in the mid 19th century.

With the demise of the Derwent Iron Company and financial crisis, Richardson moved to Woodlands Hall (near Knitsley).

Following wartime use as a nursing home during WW2 and the Priestmans moving to Slaley Hall the main property fell into institutional use before being gifted to Barnardo's in the 1950s and was a children’s home til the late 1980s when Shotley Park was turned into a residential care home for the elderly which closed in 2023.

It was then bought by a developer who has had plans approved to turn it into a hotel Thomson, Christopher (2009).

Northumberland and Durham Family History Society Journal.