The Ship that Came Home

Description

To say the Blackett family was among the most important and successful families of seventeenth-century Newcastle would be something of an understatement. Sir William Blackett made enough money to found two dynasties, and he and his son bestrode the town more like Renaissance princes than wealthy merchants. This is a story of a dynasty whose power and influence spread throughout the North East and across four centuries. It is also the story of the great houses they at one time owned, occupied and built - Grey Fruirst (Anderson Place, since demolished but in its time the largest house within city walls, outside of London). Wallington, Newly Hall, Aydon Castle, Halton Jouer, Wylam and Maften among them. It is also the story of the many Northern families with which their lives were intertwined. The genesis and framework of the book is however something both delicate and personal. A manuscript compiled by a Victorian Lady Blackett of Matfen Hall, which itself sought to piece together this history was rescued by a London collector - and traced back to the present owner of Matfen Hall. (Source: Google Books API)