Norton Conyers

History

Norton appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, recorded under the Bishop of Durham. The Conyers family held the manor from the early 12th century, giving it their name. By the late 14th century the Norton family had acquired it and built the house that stands today. The Grahams purchased the estate in 1624 and have owned it since. The house underwent restoration and won the Historic Houses Association Sotheby's Restoration Award in 2014.

Architecture

The exterior's Dutch-style gables result from later remodelling. The principal rooms retain fine 18th-century plasterwork ceilings. Excavations beneath the building have revealed sections of an earlier Anglo-Saxon structure.

Worth knowing

Charlotte Brontë is said to have visited Norton Conyers in 1839. Local tradition links a story of a madwoman confined in the attic to a key scene in Jane Eyre.

Gardens & grounds

The garden was laid out in the mid-18th century, a five-minute walk from the house. It retains the bones of its original design alongside later replanting in the English style.