A view of Howick Hall, Northumberland

The ancestral seat of the Earls Grey, Howick Hall has been owned by the Grey family since 1319. Once a magnificent tower house with a handsome court and gateway on the front, as it was described in a survey of 1715, the hall was demolished in 1780. In its place a larger hall was built in 1782 by Newcastle architect William Newton. In 1809 Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), after whom the famous tea is named and who went on to become Prime Minister in 1830, employed George Wyatt to enlarge the house once again. A fire broke out in 1926 destroying the whole of the interior of the main house. The hall was rebuilt in 1928 according to the designs of Sir Herbert Barker.