Chirton Hall

Chirton Hall or Chirton House, occasionally spelled Churton and originally Cheuton, was a country house in Chirton, in what is now a western suburb of North Shields, Tyne and Wear, northeast England. Historically, the house was in the county of Northumberland.

Ralph Reed sold his land in Chirton to John Clarke (died 1675), an agent of Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland, in 1672. The Countess of Northumberland gave Clarke the materials to build the hall from the demolished Warkworth Castle. The labour to build the large, plain, brick house came from the Percy estate. The text of Clarke's documented letter from 1672 is shown to the right.

"William Milbourne, -Being to take downe the materialls of Warkworth Castle, which are given to me by the Countess of Northumberland to build a house at Cheuton, I doe desire you to speake to all hir ladishipps tenants in Warkworth, Birlinge, Buston, Acklington, Shilbottle, Lesbury. Longhaughto, and Bilton, that, they will assist me with their draughts as soone as conveniently they can, to remove the lead and tymber which shall be taken downe, and such materialls as shall be fitt to be removed, and bringe it to Cheuton, which will be an obligation to theire and your friend, JO. CLARKE."

Clarke spared many of the castle walls because he found it would be more expensive to pull them down than to purchase new stones from the quarry. Clarke's widow, Jane (d. 1694), married Philip Bickerstaffe (MP for Berwick in 1685) in 1675, and Chirton Hall became his seat. On August 1, 1699, Bickerstaffe surrendered his copyhold lands in Chirton to Sir William Blackett who sold the hall to Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll.

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