Killingworth House

Tradition says that the house was designed by Lancelot Coxon who also worked at Roddam Hall, Northumberland, in the 1760s. William Newton made alterations in the 1770s, possibly the addition of the wings. Admiral Robert Roddam, who rose to fame in 1747 by storming a coastal battery in northern Spain which helped bring to an end the War of Austrian Succession, lived in Killingworth Hall. He was captured by the French in 1757, rose to the rank of Senior Admiral of the Red, and died in 1808. John Jameson owned the house from 1876, and the McIntyres from 1900-1911. Killingworth House was sold by auction on Wednesday 9th April 1924 advertised as a 'Country Residence together with cottages, outbuildings, fileds and gardens in all over 20 acres". The most famous inhabitant of the house was the chemist Henry Eagle, who came to the area in 1924 from Romania. His biggest commercial success was an antiseptic called 'iglodine'. According to legend, a tunnel ran from Killingworth House to Seaton Delaval Hall, 7 km away. Although this unlikely, tunnels were said to have been found during the building of the Castle Green development on the site of the house in 1975. Killingworth House was demolished in 1956.