Axwell Hall

Axwell Hall was designed by James Paine in 1760 for the Clavering family. The Claverings had previously lived at old Axwell (demolished in the 1960s) on the east side of the valley near Clockburn Lonnen. Axwell Hall now stands empty and is in a poor state of repair. Axwell Hall - 1758 by Paine but not as he would have liked. He was driven to complain in his Works about the interference of his amateur architect client, Sir Thomas Clavering, and to append to the second edition a plate of his original scheme. The unsatisfactory design was carried into execution by John Bell of Durham. Like many Palladian houses, it is a villa writ large, unusually large because all accomodation is compacted into a single 100 feet square block rather than into additional pavilions and wings, which Paine would have preferred. Consequently the plan is very unusual. Small porch and the section of cornice carrying a coat of arms in the pediment added later. The grand staircase, of the largest size and imerial type, was in the middle of the house under an oblong lantern. Never as fine as Paine intended it, and since taken down. Most of the decoration has nothing to do with Paine, and some of the main room heights were reduced by Clavering. Palladian-style plasterwork in the main room with oblong, oval etc panels in broad frames. The post-Clavering alterations inside and out were by Dobson 1817-18. He also built a garden temple. In 1920 the estate was broken up and the hall became the Newcastle Ragged School. LISTED GRADE 2*