Burn Hall Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Quick stop with plenty of parking on the A167 north bound towards Durham, there is a roundabout at the top of the short section of Dual carriageway for those heading back south.
The present mansion at Burn Hall was started in 1821, but there was an earlier manor house of some kind. Early references to Burn Hall might however refer to the flat haugh of land alongside the River Browney, rather than a hall.
The earliest known owners of Great Burn were the Brackenbury family, mentioned in 1307, who leased the land from the powerful Neville family.
Sometime around 1800 Burn Hall was sold to Brian John Salvin of Croxdale, who employed the great Durham architect Ignatius Bonomi to design a great mansion house.
The house was completed to Bonomi's designs between 1821 and 1834.
So impressive was the finished result that Queen Victoria is said to have described it as "the finest looking estate between the Humber and the Tweed".
The hall remained in the hands of the Salvin family until 1926 when it became a Catholic Seminary.
However, by 1995 the cost of maintaining such a huge building, had grown too high and the mission sold the Grade II listed hall to a developer for conversion into homes.
Please take care with children as this is a busy layby, and when you are returning back on to the carriageway.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Vfa'g gung terra n ubeevoyr pbybhe?!