NHER 5637 (Monument record) - Site of Weeting Hall

Site of Weeting Hall.
Weeting Hall was constructed some time prior to 1770 and was demolished around 1954 (information from church guide for NHER 5639). The estate was owned by the 7th Earl of Mountrath, Charles Henty Coote (b.1725 - d.1802), who had purchased a house in Weeting by 1756 and had created a large estate by 1770 (S2). Historic documents indicate construction was taking place around 1780, possibly making changes to the existing house (S2), and in 1804 it was described as 'a noble, modern built, freehold mansion' in an Italianate style, in local white bricks (S2). In 1805 the house passed to the Angerstein family and at some point between 1823 and 1897 it was enlarged and refaced with red brick. See website (S2) for further details of owners of the estate prior to 1926.

Rev. Armstrong's Diary for 17 January 1872 (S1) refers to fact that Marengo, Napoleon's horse, died here at some previous date.

In 1926 the house was sold to the Ministry of Labour for use as a residential work camp to train men for settlement in the various polities in the British Empire and Commonwealth, usually Canada or Australia. The hall had the capacity for 200 men and up to 50 administrative staff. By 1929 high levels of unemployment in the British Empire and Commonwealth led to a decline in the demand for trainees and the centre was reused as an Instructional Centre undertaking similar work. The centre was closed during World War Two when the hall became a hospital for wounded Indian and Ghurkha soldiers and a holding camp for the Rifle Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division in the lead up to the Normandy landings. In the post-war period the house and grounds were used to accommodate people who were displaced by the war. The house was demolished in 1954.
See website (S2) and published monograph article (S3) for further details.

For additional information, see also press cutting (S4) and published summary (S6).
Amended E. Rose (NLA), 12 September 1997. Amended S. Howard (HES), 8 March 2011. Amended H. Hamilton (HES), 10 February 2021.

December 1979. Site Visit.
Site part built over, part empty. Good red brick stable block with tall cupola, apparently built around 1900, remains. Lodges, ha-ha, brick walls along roads etc remain for a considerable area, though inner park has been built over.
Information from record card (S6).
E. Rose (NAU), 5 December 1979.

2001.
Large brick and flint tunnels found on site of orangery, hall and near stables during building of houses.
See copies of photographs in file taken by developers [1]. Weeting History Group has also provided a copy of the 1883 Ordnance Survey map superimposed onto a modern map. The tunnels appear to be the type of sewers one would expect to find in a 19th century town. They presumably served the hall complex, but are unusually large.
E. Rose (NLA), 26 April 2001.