ONE of the great intrigues of modern life - well to me, anyway - is the pair of gatehouses on the southbound A1 just north of Catterick Bridge. They were due to be demolished as part of plans to widen the A1 into a motorway, but the spending cuts have caused those plans to be dropped, giving the lodge houses a reprieve. Scaffolding has sprung up around one of them, so possibly they may be springing back to life.

They guard the entrance to something, and in 2010 I went in search of what. It turned out to be Gatherley Castle, demolished in 1963, and for some weeks it was of great interest to readers. Therefore, when I stumbled upon this advert yesterday in the Darlington and Stockton Times in June 1920, I thought I'd take a copy.

I think Gatherley Castle was built around the 1830s.

Its principal resident was Sir Henry de Burgh Lawson (1817-1892), who invented an unsinkable warship. After his death, a Darlington builder, Mr Coatsworth owned it, and in 1900 - when the lodge houses were built - it was bought by Miss Mary Barningham of Darlington. She'd won a small fortune from the estate of her estranged father in the Great Darlington Will Case.

I feel Miss Mary was rather like Miss Haversham, and she died a spinister in the castle in 1915. It then seems to have fallen empty. Polish soldiers used it drawing the war and readers told me it was converted into apartments.

When it was demolished, Sir Henry's huge coat of arms ended up built into a house wall in Coniscliffe Road, Darlington, and I believe there are some interesting bits and pieces still on site, but it is private.

So this advert gives an intriguing insight into a castle - only the advert calls it a "modern mansion". You went through the main door into an entrance hall off which ran the main corridor 84ft long. It had a 50ft wide drawing room running off it, and a 30ft dining room, along with a library, smoke room billiard room and breakfast room.

Elsewhere there was a ballroom and a conservatory, 23 bedrooms. Outside there was 46 acres of land, including pleasure grounds, rose gardens, a poultry run and a rabbit warren.