Brierdean, manor house

The Northumberland County History appears to say that the 1318 survey of the Middleton lands in Hartley "contains...the earliest known mention of Brereden, a manor-house or fortified dwelling, built, in all probability, by the Middletons, of which all trace has vanished, though the name survives in that of Brierdean farm. Brereden may be assumed to have occupied a site near the present homestead where the dene is crossed by a field-road leading from Monkseaton to Hartley". "The last mention of the old hall, or, more probably, the earliest reference to the farm which superseded it, is to be found in Sir Ralph Delaval's estate book, under the date of 1613, where it is termed "Bryerden house".