Mount Oswald

Mount Oswald is a manor house in Durham, County Durham, England. The property, which is being developed for academic and residential use, is a Grade II listed building.[1]

Mount Oswald
Mount Oswald in 1818
LocationDurham
Coordinates54.7602°N 1.5860°W / 54.7602; -1.5860
Built1800
ArchitectPhillip Wyatt
Architectural style(s)Georgian
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated29 November 1973
Reference no.1310089
Location of Mount Oswald in County Durham

History
Entrance to the Mount Oswald estate

The manor house was built for John Richardby, a London merchant, in 1800.[2] It was bought by Thomas Wilkinson (1752-1825), a former mayor of Durham, in 1806 and it then passed to the Rev Percival Spearman Wilkinson (1792-1875), in 1828.[2] The Rev Percival Spearman Wilkinson commissioned Phillip Wyatt to expand the house in the Neo-Georgian style in 1830.[3][4]

Mount Oswald then passed to the Rev Percival Spearman Wilkinson's son, Percival Spearman Wilkinson JP (1820-1898), before being acquired by the North Brancepeth Colliery Company in the 1890s.[2] The house was acquired by North of England Estates (a business owned by the McKeag family) in 1934:[5] North of England Estates operated the Mount Oswald estate as the Durham City Golf Club until 1967, when the golf club moved to Littleburn, and then operated it as a commercial golf course.[6] The property was then acquired by the property developers, Banks Group, for residential development in January 2014.[3]

In August 2014 Banks Group sold part of the site to Durham University who had ambitions to use it for accommodation for 1,000 students.[7][8] The project was procured by Durham University under a private finance initiative contract in August 2018.[9] The construction works, which were undertaken by Interserve at a cost of £105 million, saw John Snow College relocating from Rushford Court to Mount Oswald, and South College, a completely new college, being created on the Mount Oswald site in September 2020.[10]

In June 2019 Durham County Council revealed plans to move the county archives from County Hall to a new history centre, which was also intended to accommodate the Durham Light Infantry Collection, in the manor house at Mount Oswald.[11] The project, which envisaged Banks Group transferring the manor house to the council for a nominal sum, was granted planning consent in September 2020.[12] In March 2020 Banks Group also applied for planning permission to convert the gatehouses into residential properties.[13]

References
  1. Historic England. "Mount Oswald (City Golf Club Clubhouse), Durham (1310089)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  2. "Exploring the countryside of Mount Oswald". Durham Times. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  3. "New occupants at historic Mount Oswald Manor House through innovative 'property guardians' project". Banks Group. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  4. Page, William (1928). "'Parishes: St Oswald's - Introduction', in A History of the County of Durham". London: British History Online. pp. 144–157. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  5. "Jobs safe as £3m hotel sold". The Forester. 2 June 2011.
  6. "About North of England Estates". Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  7. Justin Villamil (5 August 2014). "University to build additional 1,000 beds on Mount Oswald site". Palatinate. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  8. "Durham university reaches agreement with the Banks Group for sale of land at Mount Oswald". The Banks Group. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  9. "Interserve JV seals £105m Durham Uni DBFO deal". Construction Enquiror. 17 August 2018.
  10. "Durham University colleges apply for 2am licences for events at new development". Sunderland Echo. 25 February 2020.
  11. "Designs revealed for new Durham History Centre to house DLI collection". Northern Echo. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  12. "Approval for history centre at Durham's Mount Oswald Manor House". Northern Echo. 25 September 2020.
  13. "Durham: New home to be created from historic Mount Oswald gate houses". Northern Echo. 4 March 2020.
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