Croxdale, Low Butterby; moated manor, chapel and gatehouse. (Meadowfield)

This was once the site of a medieval (1066 to 1540) manor, although the current house may have been built in the early 18th century. AThe site is surrounded by a dry moat. A small chapel was recorded here in the early 13th century, though nothing can be seen today. It may have lain in a field next door, where stone coffins were found in the 18th century. This is a Scheduled Ancient Monument protected by the law.

Low Butterby is a farm, now part of the Salvin estate centred on Croxdale Hall, lying 3 km to the south of the centre of Durham, on the south bank of the River Wear. Despite its relative proximity to the city the site is remote from any other building; it formerly stood at the neck of a narrow meander, but post-medieval changes in the course of the Wear means that the old river course that approaches to within a hundred metres of so of the farm on the south has now been abandoned, leaving a series of marshes and lake.

The place name 'Butterby' is a corruption of the Norman French 'Beautrove', first recorded as a seat of the d'Audre family when Ralph de Kerneck, Prior of Durham (1214-1233) granted Roger d'Audre a licence to have a [chantry in an oratory he had constructed within his manor house. Some memory of this chapel, and its disappearance, may be implied by the old Durham proverb 'going to church at Butterby', meaning non-attendance; the historian Hutchinson (1787, 325) refers to 'many stone coffins and holy water jars' being dug up in a field adjacent to the farm 'where it is supposed an ancient chapel stood'.

Before 1240 the heiress of Walter de l'Audre married Sir William Lumley, and the manor remained a Lumley property, and occasional residence, until 1566 when John Lord Lumley sold it to Christopher Chaytor; in 1589 it was settled by deed dated 1589 on Thomas Chaytor, fourth son of the purchaser. Thomas Chaytor, d.1618, was Surveyor General to the King for Northumberland and Durham, and Registrar of Durham; his diary for the years 1612-1617 is now in the Palace Green library at Durham, and his will , which describes the rooms at Butterby as the 'Hall, parlour, inner parlour, the chamber over the Hall, the little chamber at the stairhead, the nursery, the kitchen, the milkhouse, the brewery, the buttery the gatehouse, the chamber over the milkhouse, the kitchen and the stable'.

Around 1697 Butterby was sold to three brothers, Thomas, John and Humphrey Doubleday, but was soon the sole property of Humphrey. Around 1775 purchased by the Wards of Sedgefield; the earliest extant plan of the site may be a survey of 1800 by J. Pickering. In 1820 William Thomas Salvin purchased Low Butterby from Thomas Ward; it remains a Salvin property.

Accounts survive for a partial remodelling of the farmhouse in 1879, carried out by R and J Adamson of Gainford, on behalf of the tenant Thomas Wearmouth.

Additional domestic accommodation appears to have been provided in the mid-20th century by the conversion of part of the east range from agricultural use; the present windows in the south end of the range, which appear to have been inserted at the time of this conversion, are not shown on 1944 photographs, but are visible on those c1960 in the Beamish Museum collection.

The 16th or 17th century gatehouse, which had attracted some antiquarian interest, fell into poor repair, and was demolished in 1966 or 1967.

Reference number: D1358
Historical period: Medieval (1066 to 1540)
Legal status: Scheduled Ancient Monument

See also:
Location of this site on a map, with option to view historical maps. Please note this link will open a new window. To return to this page please close the new window.

Croxdale, Low Butterby © Ryder, P 2004

Croxdale, Low Butterby © Ryder, P 2006

Croxdale, Low Butterby © Ryder, P 2004

Croxdale, Low Butterby © Ryder, P 2006

Disclaimer - Please note that this information has been compiled from a number of different sources. Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council can accept no responsibility for any inaccuracy contained therein. If you wish to use/copy any of the images, please ensure that you read the Copyright information provided.

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