Walking trail
Walk 3 – Holywell Dene and Old Hartley
A 5-mile (8km) self-guided walk taking in the points of interest around Holywell Dene and Old Hartley, including the history of the local area, the Delaval family, and Seaton Delaval Hall.
Map
Start:
Seaton Delaval Hall main gates, grid ref: NZ321766
1
Leave Seaton Delaval Hall by the main gates, turn left on the footpath and follow the estate wall around the bend as far as the gates to the grounds of the Church of Our Lady and its secluded graveyard (open Summer only - Fridays 11:00 to 4:00, Sundays 2:00 to 4:00). Retrace your steps back to the main road and turn left to walk up the Avenue towards Seaton Delaval.
Church of Our Lady
The Church of Our Lady was built by the Normans, and is more than 1,000 years old.
2
Turn left at the first junction (signposted 'Public Bridleway') into Harbord Terrace. Go to the lane end and continue straight ahead between fields. Immediately after the second iron gate continue straight on down the farm track with open fields on your left, ignore left-hand turn of farm track but carry straight on (signpost on right) to reach the wooded Holywell Dene.
Harbord Terrace
Harbord Terrace, named after Elizabeth Evelyn Harbord the wife of the 20th Lord Hastings, was built in the late 19th century for estate workers, the first cottage being the blacksmiths. There are lovely views across to the left where you can see the Mausoleum and the Obelisk. The fields are known as 'The Dairy House Fields' and before you reach the second iron gate there are traces of the Dairy House Farm on the right-hand side with the duck pond on the left. A short distance further on and you can see on your left traces of the former Nightingale Pit.
3
Go through the gate and turn left on to the footpath. After a short distance on the opposite side of Dene was the site of the Hartley Engine House, birthplace in 1756 of William Carr, the 'Hartley Samson'. Walk past Hartley West Farm on your left. At the fork in the path take the left-hand path passing the ruined fragment of Hartley Mill and continue down hill to a lower path and turn left. At the next fork either go left then through a gate and turn right down the farm road, or go right through the squeeze stile across a grassy area then over a stile and turn right onto the same farm road. Cross the stone bridge and follow the tarmac road to reach Hartley Lane. Turn left and follow the road passing, on your right, the remains of the bridge abutments of the 1914 railway line (never used) from Monkseaton to Seaton Sluice, to reach the roundabout on the main road.
4
At the roundabout turn left and stay on the footpath all the way back to the Hall. On your way, on your right, you pass the c18th farmhouse Lookout Farm, used during the Napoleonic War as a look out post. Opposite is another view of the Mausoleum, built in 1777 by Sir John Hussey Delaval for his son John who died in 1776 aged 19. The Mausoleum was never consecrated and John is buried at Doddington, Lincolnshire. Further on you may also see, over the wall, the Orangery and the houses previously used by the garden employees. You will then reach your original starting point at the main gates of the Hall.
The Orangery
The Orangery provided the Delaval family with exotic fruits and plants.
5
Keeping the Delaval Arms on your left proceed straight ahead.
Fort House
Behind the pub you can see the water tower at Fort House, a former officer’s quarters and range-finding post of WW1 Roberts Battery, one of two “Tyne Turrets” protecting the river Tyne approaches. Each turret was equipped with a twin 12 inch (304mm) turret from the battleship HMS Illustrious.
6
As you continue you pass what was Old Hartley’s village green, and go down the road to a cliff edge car park.
7
To continue on this walk turn left and walk along the cliff-top footpath towards Seaton Sluice. Follow the path around Crag Point and turn right on joining Collywell Bay Road. On your right you'll see a sandstone pinnacle. Turn right along Collywell Bay Road and when the road curves left go straight on along West Terrace with the First World War Memorial Garden on your left; in there are a war memorial and toilets. At the end of West Terrace is the 18th-century Kings Arms pub. Opposite find the iron pivot of an earlier swivelling footbridge which spanned The Cut, the pivot is actually set onto the base of the Harbour Master’s shelter.
The Cut at Seaton Sluice harbour
The Cut was made by John and Thomas Delaval between 1761- 1764 and gave improved access for ships to the old harbour and also created the New Harbour, a wet/ dry dock, to allow the loading of cargo at all states of the tide and weather. This also created Rocky Island. The isolated sandstone pinnacle is known as Charlie’s Garden, named after the person who cultivated the top of it before the sea finally eroded the rocks between it and the mainland. It is not a sea stack but the result of 19th-century quarrying.
8
Proceed along the side of the harbour, turn right and cross the small iron bridge. Then turn left and down the short flight of steps to pass under the road bridge and continue half right to reach the street of bungalows (Seaburn Grove), bear right in front of the bungalows.
9
Cross the footbridge onto Rocky Island. Retrace your steps and return to the mainland. Ahead of you, on the opposite side of the Memorial Gardens, is the Waterford Arms. After crossing the footbridge turn right and descend the steps to the side of the Harbour. Opposite is Sandy Island.
Rocky Island
This area was once known as 'The Pans' due to salt-making carried out there from at least 1236. Hartley Pans was an early name for Seaton Sluice, the port being a natural inlet until 1660 when Sir Ralph Delaval built a stone pier and added a Battery of three cannon to protect the entrance. Now Rocky Island is uninhabited except for two former coastguard cottages and the 1880 Volunteer Life-saving Watch House, now a museum. In 1901, 63 people lived here but by 1962 all had left, all having to move out due to the failure of their homes meeting the requirements of the 1957 Housing Act. The Waterford Arms, named after Susan, granddaughter of Lord Delaval and wife of the Marquis of Waterford. Next door is the Octagon built in 18th century as His Majesty’s Revenue Office; it was later the Copperas House, a Public Reading Room and a house. Sandy Island is a huge hill formed from the ballast unloaded from the ships over the centuries. During the Napoleonic Wars a blockhouse was built to protect the harbour mouth. It is difficult to imagine that in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries Seaton Sluice was a major exporter of coal, salt and glass bottles. In 1777, the following were exported: 80,000 tons of coal, 300 tons of salt and 1.75 million glass bottles.
10
At the roundabout turn left and stay on the footpath all the way back to the Hall.
The Mausoleum and Orangery
On your way, on your right, you pass the 18th-century farmhouse Lookout Farm, used during the Napoleonic War as a look out post. Opposite is another view of the Mausoleum, built in 1777 by Sir John Hussey Delaval for his son John, who died in 1776 aged 19. The Mausoleum was never consecrated and John is buried at Doddington, Lincolnshire. Further on you may also see, over the wall, the Orangery and the houses previously used by the garden employees. You will then reach your original starting point at the main gates of the Hall.
End:
Seaton Delaval Hall main gates, grid ref: NZ321766
