president's address. 503 



Delaval it was well nigh all we could desire. Some of the 

 members who accompanied us had never been over the ground 

 before, and were surprised to find so much to enjoy within so 

 short a distance of Newcastle and yet so near to the sea. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Chapman, the agent of Lord 

 Hastings, the members were allowed to go over the hall, and 

 see every part of what remains of that once fine structure. 



While we were in one of the chief rooms Captain Adamson, 

 of CuUercoats, read a very interesting memoir on the Delaval 

 family, in which he traced their story onwards from the period 

 of their first landing in England to the time (1814) when the 

 property passed to the present owners, the Astleys of Melton 

 Constable, in Norfolk. 



It seems, from Captain Adamson's account, that the Delavals 

 took their name from Laval in France, and that the family were 

 related to William the Conqueror through the marriage of his 

 niece Dionysia, daiighter of Robert Earl of Montaigne. They 

 were settled in Northumberland very soon after the conquest. 

 The barony of Delaval, which was held of the king in capite, 

 comprised the manors of Seaton, with Newsham, Dissington, 

 and Callerton. Gilbert Delaval was one of the twenty-five 

 barons, in the reign of King John, who were sworn to see to 

 the execution of Magna Charta and the Charta de Foresta. 



After continuing for many generations in the rank of knight- 

 hood the family was advanced in dignity at the Restoration, 

 when Sir Ralph Delaval was created a baronet. He Avas member 

 for the county during the entire reign of Charles II. The har- 

 bour of Seaton Sluice was contrived and formed by him, and 

 the king made him collector and surveyor of his own port. 

 Admiral Delaval, a cousin of the first baronet, won for himself 

 great distinction by the share he had in the great victory olf 

 Cape la Hogue in May, 1692. It was under the auspices of 

 this brave commander that his kinsman, George Delaval, en- 

 tered the navy, and having risen to the rank of admiral, and 

 been employed in Embassies to Portugal and Morocco, amassed 

 great Avealth. It was he who commissioned Sir John Vanburgh 

 to build the hall at Seaton Delaval. In 182'2 it was almost 



