Ormesby Hall

For nearly 400 years, Ormesby was the home of the Pennyman family, who acquired the estate in the early 17th century. The present house was built for Dorothy Pennyman in the 1740s, incorporating parts of the earlier house within its service wing. While the exterior of this 3-storey Palladian block is restrained and austere, the glory resides in the interiors. Fine plasterwork and carved woodwork from two periods of the 18th century are on display: the bold Palladian decoration of the 1740s contrasts with more delicate Neo-classical plasterwork ceilings in the drawing and dining rooms. These were commissioned by Sir James Pennyman, 6th Baronet, in the 1770s; he also built the imposing stable block and laid out the park, with its plantations and main entrance lodge. Sir James ultimately went bankrupt and all the contents of the house were auctioned off to pay his creditors. The house remained in the family, however, until 1961.

Ormesby Hall, Redcar and Cleveland

This collection has 6,905 items online

A collection of 17th -20th century family portraits; 17th-20th century furniture and many family mementoes of Colonel and Mrs Pennyman. There is fine bold Palladian plasterwork and wood carvings(c1740) in the Entrance Hall and good Neo-classical decoration in the Drawing room,Dining room and Gallery(c 1772). There are just under 1700 books once the property of the Pennyman family. Mostly from the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries,some strong in radical causes, reflecting the left wing sympathies of twentieth-century owners.

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