The Manor House, Sedgefield
In 1756 the house was acquired by John Burdon of nearby Hardwick Estate who installed a noteworthy Palladian Venetian window very likely by the architect James Paine.
The change in description appears to have occurred in the early 20th century when the house became a head office for the local authority, Sedgefield Rural District Council.
[2] The origins of the Manor House arguably begin with The Rising of the North in 1569 when Anthony Hebborn of nearby Hardwick Estate joined the northern Earls in the unsuccessful rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I.
When the rebellion was suppressed Anthony Hebborne among with many others was included in the bill of attainder which resulted in his execution at York and his family being stripped of his estate.
Hardwick Estate was given to George Freville (later knighted) (d. 1619) who had been clerk of the ordnance under the Earl of Sussex who was responsible for quelling the rebellion.
Her father had died in Newgate Prison in 1689 charged with treason by William of Orange following the Glorious Revolution and Anne had come to Sedgefield with her brother Robert Wright, also a judge who had taken the role of Justice of the Common Pleas in the County Palatine of Durham[2] in the same year.
Wood paneling and the fireplace in the cellar kitchen are similar to those seen in Sir Christopher Wren's extension to Hampton Court Palace completed for Queen Anne.
"The manor-house, a large well-designed three-story brick building on the west side of the market-place, now used as District Council offices, has a mural sundial dated 1707.
The Manor House is built in the classic style of Queen Anne architecture with the key features of bi-lateral symmetry, rows of painted sash windows, stone quoins emphasizing the corners and box-like double-pile plans two rooms deep.In some ways the Manor House is a contrast of crude and fine.
It is faced front and rear with red brick which was unusual in the north at the time and used in the new architecture of London that followed the Great Fire of 1666 (for example Newcastle House in Lincoln's Inn Fields), however the bricks of the Manor House though described by Nikolaus Pevsner as 'consciously fashionable'[6] on close inspection are crude and often show dark patches from their firing.
In the cellars is an old window to what was probably the cook's room off the central passageway and which was said by Martin Roberts of Pevsner Guides on a visit in 2016 to likely be of about 1650 and therefore to pre-date the house and to have been reused from an older cottage.
[11] The vaulted wine cellars were converted in around 1974 into holding cells and a custody police office for the magistrates court and a barred security gate was installed in the central corridor and these features are still intact.
John Burdon had purchased Robert Wright's mansion house following years of title dispute which was settled in the High Court of Chancery in 1756.
Robert Wright made a title surrender which was probably the Manor House to John Ball for a payment of £1600 plus interest on 10 October 1717.
Fourthly, John Cotton who was Lord Proprietor of Carolina and was likely involved in Robert Wright's appointment as Chief Justice of the colony.
The records are confusing but it appears that John Burdon retained the title until 11 May 1791 when, due to financial difficulties, he sold Hardwick Estate and probably the Manor House also to William Russell of Brancepeth Castle.
