Eland Lodge: Ponteland's First Mansion

Today there are many modern mansions in Ponteland but this house built around 1840 on North Road is generally thought to have been the first built here.

Eland Lodge is reputed to have been built by and lived in by the Jameson family, a very long established family from Ponteland but there is good documentary evidence, dating from the 19th century which points to a different story.

Eland Lodge was actually built by William Falconar sometime before 1841 as in the census of that year, he is recorded as living there with his wife who was 45 years old at the time. There are some indications that William Falconar was a brewer whose family controlled the Howden Brewery near Newcastle which later was taken over by the Scottish and Newcastle Breweries.

William died in 1847 and three years later his widow remarried. She married a William J. Jameson who was a surgeon from South Shields. There were many Jameson’s in Ponteland at that time but he does not appear to have been related to them.

He was much younger than his new wife and she must have been very conscious of this as shaved five years off her age in the 1851 census, giving her age as 50 when she was actually 55 compared to her husband who was 34.

By the following census in 1861, William has moved out of Eland Lodge and is living alone in Garden House. His wife still lived in Eland Lodge with a maid but has reverted to her true age which was now 66 and described her occupation as House proprietor.

The house was put on the market the following year in 1862. Presumably Elizabeth died as by the 1871 census William Jameson had remarried to the daughter of Robert Donkin, the builder, This time around, she was much younger than him and they went on to have a large family together, many of whom still live locally.

The 1862 sale notice described the house as follows:

“A DELIGHTFUL FREEHOLD RESIDENCE called Eland Lodge, situate at Ponteland, and built by the late William Falconar Esq.

This beautiful Mansion is situated in a pleasant and healthy Locality, substantially built with Stone, Slated Roof, in good Repair, and replete with every Convenience, containing Dining and Drawing Rooms, Four Bed Rooms, Warm Bath Room, Servant’s Room, Kitchen, and other Conveniences. Also, in the Yard is a detached Kitchen, with Room above; Coach-house; Stable; and a Pump, with a plentiful Supply of good Water”.

The next mention of the house is in the 1871 census when John Beckington, a retired Miller is listed as living there with his family and a servant. He lived there until his death in 1883 and the house was put up for sale again the following year. The next occupant was William Taylor who died in 1890. His widow continued to live at the house until her death in 1918. Her brother was an eminent surgeon Dr. Anthony Bell and on his retirement he and another sister joined Mrs Taylor at the property. Following their deaths the property was sold for £2,000 to Joseph Henderson of Ponteland. Joseph went on to become the Chairman of Castle Ward Rural District Council for over ten years and died in 1949.

The house was offered for sale again in 1953 and in 1991. In the 1991 sale it was offered with planning permission to erect three additional houses in the grounds. The latest sale of the property was in 2017. It is now a Grade II listed building.