Answer October 2019
The clue showed the chimneys on the building at the North corner of St Mary’s Wynd and Beaumont Street. (Thanks to Stefan for these photos.)
Now comprising retail units on the ground floor and apartments in the upper floors (“The Granary”), the building was originally Temperley’s grain warehouse until converted to its present form in the 1980s. John Chapman refers to the building as the Old Granary in his book A Walk Back In Time.
The building, 9 Beaumont Street, was build in 1877 for W. A. Temperley and Co. The Temperley family were grain and feed merchants, and siting this building close to the Corn Exchange in Beaumont Street (now the Queens Hall) clearly had some commercial sense.
From the Autumn 2008 HLHS Newsletter (from information provided by Colin Dallison):
In 1827 Nicholas Temperley was a grocer selling butter, bacon, cheese, tea and flour from premises in Market Street. The Temperleys are described in a directory from the late 19th century as “an old established and well known firm of merchants and importers with premises at Hexham, and Newcastle.” The directory goes on to state that “The name Temperley has been a familiar one on Tyneside for several generations, and the establishment of the firm dates from 1801… the firm do an extensive business in home produce, and as importers of cargoes, and direct steamer shipments of various descriptions of foreign oil-cakes, grain, and other feeding materials…They also act as agents in the district for one of the largest Hungarian flour mills at Budapest”
The Temperleys left quite a mark architecturally in Hexham. In 1826 Temperley Place was built on the north side of Hencoates and in 1859 William Temperley built Westfield House at Hexham at the substantial cost of £1,047. His eldest son Nicholas laid the foundation stone on his fifteenth birthday, February 14th 1859. The house was sold in 1877, after being let for a few years, to J. Hope for £11,000 and later became Hexham Hydro. The same year, 1877, 9 Beaumont Street, an “essay in free Baroque” according to Pevsner, was built for W. A. Temperley and Co, followed in 1897 by 7 Beaumont Street.
The record of Hexham shops from 1971 (available to HLHS members in the Members Library) lists 9 Beaumont Street as W A Temperley, Agricultural merchant up to 1983. By 1986 the Universal Building Society is recorded as the occupant.
Here are views of the front of the building, that on the left circa September 2018, from Google Maps Street View, and that on the right circa 1890. In that on the right you can just make out the “Co” of the sign for “Temperley & Co”, and the advertisment for “Grass, Seeds and Cloverseed” in the right-hand window.
Wasn’t Westfield House ( Hydro building) lived in by C.T. Maling , of Maling Pottery fame?
Hi Barbara
Westfield House was built by Temperley in 1860 as a property to let. When it was sold to John Hope in 1874, the two tenants were C T Maling and Matthew Dodd, a local builder. It was Hope who formed the Tynedale Hydropathic Hotel, starting with Westfield House and then building the larger building adjacent now known as the Hydro. More information on the Hydro can be found in issues 11 & 14 of the Hexham Historian
Hello Mark,
My name is David Johnson (Maling Pottery Historian) representing The Maling Collectors Society in the UK. It had always been my belief that Westfield House had been built for Christopher Thompson Maling in 1852, and that the Maling family sold it in 1877 to a company who decided to build a Hydropathic Hotel, with the hotel then opening in 1878. It provided Turkish Baths, a pool and later, in 1892, the Winter Garden with fountains and exotic plants was added. The building continued to be used as a hotel up to the 2nd World War when it became a hospital. Now, I must be honest and state that I am unaware how this information was first provided to use to be used within a past Society newsletter, but would appreciate your kind confirmation of the full facts. Kind regards and with sincere thanks, David.
From Mark Benjamin:
I write in reply to your comment on our October buildings test, concerning the origins of Westfield House.
Our knowledge of the building comes from two articles carried in our journal, the Hexham Historian. Sadly, the authors of both articles have since died so we are unable to check with them but in the first article, The origins of Hexham Hydro, Keith Strom states that Westfield House was built by William Angus Temperley in the 1850s; Christopher Thompson Maling was merely one of two tenants residing in the house at the time of its sale in 1874 to John Hope, the creator of the Hydropathic Hotel which eventually opened in 1879.
Strom, K. The origins of Hexham Hydro (Hexham Historian 11(2001)32-43
Jennings, D & Dallison, C. Hexham Hydro: a chronological history (Hexham Historian 14(2004)35-47
Copies of both issues are available through our bookshop https://www.hexhamhistorian.org/product-category/hexham-historian/ I do hope this clarifies the matter.