IN Memories 259, we told how the Friends of Hardwick Park at Sedgefield had produced a 2016 calendar showing stunning photographs of their beautiful grounds.

A couple of weeks later, while looking for something else in The Northern Echo's photo library, a packet of old black and white pictures of the park fell out. We'd previously assumed that all the pictures had been filed under Sedgefield: Parks, which means these that we'd never laid eyes on many of these before.

And they show how far the park had fallen before its revival by Durham County Council, with Lottery money, in the 2000s.

The Northern Echo: BEFORE EXPANSION: Hardwick Hall, Sedgefield, in May 1978 – it has been a hotel since the late 1960s
BEFORE EXPANSION: Hardwick Hall, Sedgefield, in May 1978 – it has been a hotel since the late 1960s

The Northern Echo: HUGE HOTEL: John Burdon's mansion is today in the middle of the two wings of Hardwick Hall
HUGE HOTEL: John Burdon's mansion is today in the middle of the two wings of Hardwick Hall

The Northern Echo: FALLING DOWN: The graceful bridge over the serpentine lake in Hardwick Park in March 1980
FALLING DOWN: The graceful bridge over the serpentine lake in Hardwick Park in March 1980

The Northern Echo: STILL STANDING: The Gothic Bridge was rebuilt from the original plans and re-opened in 1994 by local Councillor Ken Manton
STILL STANDING: The Gothic Bridge was rebuilt from the original plans and re-opened in 1994 by local Councillor Ken Manton

The Northern Echo: TEMPLE TUMBLES: The Temple of Minerva, high on a hill overlooking the lake, was one of the most important of the follies in the park, but here in August 1956 it is in ruins
TEMPLE TUMBLES: The Temple of Minerva, high on a hill overlooking the lake, was one of the most important of the follies in the park, but here in August 1956 it is in ruins

The Northern Echo:
PIN-UP: The Temple of Minerva on the Friends of Hardwick's 2016 calendar

The Northern Echo:
RUINED RUIN: The Gothic Ruin was meant to be romantically ruined by this 1956 picture shows that it had fallen to wrack and ruin

The Northern Echo:
GRAND ENTRANCE: The Lodge and Gatehouse at Hardwick Hall, Sedgefield in April 1934 – today, the driveway to the hotel off the A177 runs over this spot

The Northern Echo:
GRAND REPAST: The Banqueting House, here in April 1934, was on the Grand Terrace overlooking the lake until it was demolished in 1947. The façade was built into the Royal Cinema in Trimdon Village which opened in 1956, but only showed films for about a decade before becoming a sports clothing factory. The factory was demolished in the late 1980s

The park was laid out in the 1750s and 1760s by architect James Paine, who was working for John Burdon, who owned Hardwick Hall from 1740 until 1790. After Burdon, it was owned by the Russell family of Brancepeth Castle, and then, through marriage, by Gustavus Hamilton, the 7th Lord Boyne. Decay, as devotees of Downton Abbey will understand, set in during the 1920s, and during the Second World War, it used for various war-related purposes – a Bevan Boys hostel, an Army training camp – where conservation was not uppermost in the mind.

After the war, the hall became a maternity hospital, and during the 1960s, the A177 Sedgefield bypass was driven through the parkland. The county council began acquiring the parkland in 1972 and now it is a lovely walk where your every turn will be greeted by avaricious waterfowl.