High Sunderland, Halifax

High Sunderland was a timber-framed house – later encased in stone – which overlooked Shibden Valley at Horley Green. A house is recorded in 1274.

The name of the area and the house may be derived from sunder and means separate land, that is, land away from the main estate. The surname Sunderland originated here.

Around 1629, a house was built for either Richard Sunderland or Abraham Sunderland.

The hall passed to Langdale Sunderland.

Subsequent owners and tenants have included

• Joshua Horton [1655]
• Joshua Kitson [around 1720]
• John Green [around 1745]
• William Walker of Crow Nest [1803]
• William Priestley
• John Rawson of Brockwell
• James Mills [1820]
• Samuel Appleyard [1835]
• James Wood [1835]
• Joseph Gray [1841]
• Shepherd & Wood [1858]
• John Whiteley Ward [1861]

It was one of the first Halifax houses to use the newer classical columns. The façade of the house had battlements and elaborate carved figures.

This is discussed in the books Ancient Halls in & about Halifax, Buildings in the Town & Parish of Halifax and The Old Halls & Manor Houses of Yorkshire.

A room at the house was said to be haunted by the disembodied hand of

an estimable and virtuous lady

and a phantom white horse is said to roam the surrounding area.

There were numerous Latin inscriptions on the building, as discussed below

The house was divided into separate tenements and occupied until the 1940s, but, by the 1950s, it was considered derelict and unsafe.

As a consequence of local mining, the walls began to belly outwards and the building became unsafe.

The owner, Mrs Holden of Harrogate, wanted to sell it to the Brontë Society or to Halifax Corporation, but it was decided that the cost of repairs – £6,000 – was more than the value of the house.

The house was demolished in 1951.

High Sunderland Lane, Claremount still exists.

Some parts of the house and photographs taken prior to demolition can be seen at Shibden Hall.

It is one of the many contenders as the model for Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. The exterior of both houses – as described by Lockwood in the book – was similar.

Latin inscriptions

There were numerous Latin inscriptions on the building:

• Over the south door:

  
  hic locus odit amat punit conservat honorat.
  
  nequitiam pacem crimines jura probes
  

• Below this are the words:

  Confide Deo, Diffide tibi

• On the pillar on the left side of the south door:

  
  Patria Domus
  

  and on the pillar on the right:

  Optima Caelus

• Over the window on the south front:

  
  omnipotente facit stirps Sunderlandia sedes,
  Incolat has placide et ineatur jura parentum
  Lite racans, donec ductus, formica marines
  Ebibat et totum testudo perambulet orbem
  

• Over the gateway:

  numquam hanc pulset portam qui violat sequum

  and a scroll issuing from the mouth of a cherub with the words:

  fama virtutum tuba perennis

• In a window beneath the arms of Saltonstall, Langdale and Thornhill

  
  Fælix quem virtus generosa exornat avorum,
  Et qui virtute suis adjicit ipse decus.  L.S.
  

  The initials may be those of Langdale Sunderland

• Over the fireplace in the hall

  Maxima Domus utilitas, er pernicies, ingies et lingua

See High Sunderland Farm, High Sunderland: Arms and Lower High Sunderland

This & associated entries use material contributed by Duane Pearson, Kai Roberts & Norman Sunderland

Page Ref: MMH178

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