2-708-253 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

Wallington Hall, near Cambo, Northumberland, c1968-c1980. An interior view of Wallington Hall, showing the central hall seen from the second floor of the house. The house was buit in 1688 for Sir William Blackett over the site of a former Fenwick house. It was remodelled around 1735-1745 for Sir William Calverley Blackett, and again between 1853 and 1854 by John Dobson. The central hall was originally an open courtyard, but was covered over to create the room. It is surrounded by Pre-Raphaelite painted murals, mostly by William Bell Scott, a Scottish Pre-Raphaelite artist, with one panel by John Ruskin. The hall is arcaded on both floors, and the keystones obver the ground floor arches are oval coats of arms. Above, the first floor is balustraded between the segmental arches, and in the foreground is a large owl sculpture with its wings outstretched, mirrored in an opposite sculpture. On the ground floor is a white marble statue of a figure supporting a child's figure on the left, who is stood on a box so that their heights are similar. The property was given to the National Trust in 1941, and the Trevelyan family continued to reside there until the house was first opened to the public in 1968.