Bale Hill House, Wolsingham

Bale Hill House Wolsingham is a sizeable farm house with a thick walled, barrel-vaulted basement. It occupies a site on a steep slope overlooking the Waskerley Beck, which flows into the River Wear. The house is occupied, and sits to the rear of the farm buildings, meaning that it looks directly over the slopes, and it cannot be seen from the public roads.

A 16th century record refers to the “Lodge within the park of Wolsingham, otherwise called the Baylehillhouse” but it is unclear whether, as tradition states, the property was occupied by the bailiff of the Bishop of Durham. It is certain that the manor of Wolsingham was a property of the Bishops, and it is therefore likely that the Bishop had an official responsible for the manor. There was a bailiff for Wolsingham, but the park was within the jurisdiction of a forester, not the bailiff.

Other explanations for the name have been put forward, including the use of the hill for a bale fire. However these do not explain the presence of a high status building like this, and it may be that the structure was a bastle house of sorts that had been enlarged to form a more spacious residence for the bailiff or forester. It has been much extended and reworked in the centuries since.