Ridley Hall

 mill, estate (manor / mansion land)

RIDLEY HALL is a fine old country house set on a thirty-three acre estate comprising of woodland, playing fields and lawned gardens. The original Ridley Hall, built in 1567, burned down and was replaced by a Georgian building in 1743. In 1876 John Bowes, the founder of Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle, inherited the house. The Hall passed to the Bowes-Lyon family (Queen Mother) in 1891 under whose ownership the Hall was rebuilt in the popular neo-Tudor style. Formal gardens were laid out and a system of paths was made in the Allen Valley ( Now National Trust property). Many of the internal fittings are of historic interest, notably the fire place in the Dinning room which was originally form Mottisfont Priory in Hampshire. The stone fireplace in the main hall dates from 1639. In recent years Ridley Hall has seen service as a private preparatory school, teacher training college and high school boarding home.