REPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1899 67 



Delavals and allied families. The arches at the entrance 

 into the chancel and above the Holy Table are supported 

 by short columns, with plain heavy capitals, and wrought 

 with double tiers of zig-zag mouldings. The walls are 

 decorated with armour, tattered banners, and escutcheons. 

 There are also two monuments, one of which represents a 

 recumbent figure of a knight in armour, resting upon his 

 left arm, his shield plain ; and the other a recumbent figure 

 of a female, with her hands elevated. Each figure has a 

 dog at its feet, the usual emblem of faithfulness. 



The hall at Seaton Delaval was built about 170 years ago 

 by Admiral Delaval, after a design by Sir John Yanbrugh, 

 who was also the architect of Blenheim Palace, and many 

 other seats of the English nobility.* The porticoes, the hall, 

 and the saloon, are the chief features of the building. The 

 offices in the lowest storey are all vaulted with stone. The 

 wings project at right angles to the north front of the 

 house, and they have fine arcades along the whole length 

 of their inner fronts ; they contain the kitchens on the 

 west side, and very noble stables on the east. The large 

 addition to the east end of the main building has broken 

 the uniformity of the original design, though it has been 

 executed after Vanbrugh's style.f This building has been 

 very unfortunate, for the west wing was destroyed by fire 

 in 1752, and subsequently rebuilt. The central hall was 



* " By the sea, near Seaton Delaval, so called from the town or 

 villa by the sea, and the local name of its ancient baronial possessors, 

 the Delavals, is a freestone, accounted excellent both for colour and 

 duration, of a whitish-brown, with splendid micaceous particles. That 

 grand structure .... Seaton Delaval, was built of it." . , . . — Wallis, 

 Northumherland, Vol. i., p. 57. 



t Sir George Douglas identifies Carne Hall in Mr Ernest Rhys' story, 

 The Fiddler of Carne, with Seaton Delaval. — " A palace out of place ! 

 A more stately and august design you shall hardly find among all the 

 great houses of Inigo Jones, that master of his art, who designed it, 

 A lofty pile served as its centre, with an array of columns, exquisitely 

 set, divinely portioned, and approached by three simultaneous flights 

 of steps, fit to give a generous entrance to troops and battalions 

 of guests. The immense portico easily received these steps, and 

 opened palatial doors to them." — Ernest Rhys, The Fiddler of Game, 

 p. 120. 



