The Manor House, Sedgefield

The Manor House in Sedgefield, County Durham was built in 1707 on high ground in a country setting looking on to St. Edmund's Church as a mansion house for wealthy judge Robert Wright. Its notoriety arises from the eminence of the judge of Middle Temple who went on to be Chief Justice of colonial South Carolina and also because it is a rare example of Queen Anne style architecture in an area as far north as Sedgefield, with fine and distinctive architectural features including, reportedly, a wood carving by Grinling Gibbons. In 1756 the house was acquired by John Burdon of nearby Hardwick Estate who installed a noteworthy Palladian Venetian window very likely by the architect James Paine. In the twentieth century the Manor House was the head offices of Sedgefield Rural District Council and after that Sedgefield Magistrates' Court. ()