Pockerley Old Hall

Pockerley Old Hall, situated on a hill in the centre of the Beamish valley, represents the home of a wealthy farmer in the early 1800s.

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The Old Hall, which was already on the museum site, has a long history dating back to at least 1183.  The 13th century saw a period of expansion of the farm’s holding and in around 1440 a solid stone stronghouse was built on the hill top.  Parts of the stronghouse still survive, adjoining the newer house built in the late 1700s.

The ground floor of the strong house (the old house) is a barrel vault with walls up to 5 feet thick. The first floor, reached by a narrow stone staircase, contains two main rooms and a narrow passageway which houses the garderobe or toilet.  Demonstrations of candle or rushlight making, wool carding and spinning and oatcake making regularly take place here.

The new house at Pockerley Old Hall provided a home for the squire, his family and their servants. Visitors can explore the large, flagged kitchen, the formal parlour for entertaining guests and the north facing larder, stocked with game, salted fish, pickles and preserves.

Upstairs, on the cold and dark north facing side of the house are the hind’s quarters, with access directly into the scullery below. The family, of course, slept in the sunnier bedrooms at the front of the house. The storage room upstairs was a common feature of larger rural dwellings and holds large oak chests for dry storage of grain, fleeces waiting to be carded and a smoke room to preserve and flavour hams.

The terraced gardens, on the south side of the Old Hall, sit on three levels. Closest to the house are the formal, ornamental gardens, with the kitchen garden and orchard below. Varieties of flowers, shrubs and vegetables which were available in Georgian times flourish here.

The fine stone and pantile stables nearby house the museum’s heavy horses and are the hub of the Beamish Cleveland Bay horse breeding scheme.