By Robin Birley
Chesterholm was built by one of Northumberland's most remarkable but now largely unknown sons, Anthony Hedley, who died at Chesterholm in 1835. The property was passed to his daughter who put it on the market in 1842 but it failed to sell and was occupied by a number of tenants until 1863 when it was acquired by John Clayton of Chesters. It remained in his estate until it was put up for auction in 1929, when it was bought by Eric Birley who made it his home until 1950 when it was again sold. Chesterholm remained in private hands until 1974 when it was purchased by the Vindolanda Trust (founded in 1970) to be made into a museum.