A HISTORIC hall which has been transformed into a romantic setting for weddings is up for sale.

Beamish Hall next to the Beamish Museum, near Stanley, County Durham,has been put on the market by Beamish Hall Limited.

Durham County Council agreed to sell the Grade II-listed building to Holt Castle Enterprises four years ago, after it beat off 30 other applicants with a bid said to be way in excess of the original £550,000 asking price.

Beamish Hall general manager Clive Williamson has confirmed the hall is on the market.

But he moved to allay fears that it would be converted into houses and flats for sale, saying there was no planning permission to do so.

He said: "The hall is on the market and the hope is that it will stay as it is." He said the hall was still taking bookings for wedding parties.

The history of the site goes back to at least 1068 when William the Conqueror gave the land to Guilbert de-la-Leigh, although the site may have been in the hands of prominent Anglo-Saxons before that.

The hall was later the centre of Catholic rebellions against King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I and was seized by Cromwell in the Civil War.

The estate was owned between 1904 and 1948 by the Shafto family, whose most prominent member, Bobby Shafto, famously went to sea with silver buckles on his knee.

Derwentside District Council granted permission two years ago for its conversion into a hotel, with restaurants, bars, function rooms and offices.