COAL counts more than guano in the history of this country. You don't need me to tell you that. But perhaps the National Trust does.

Despite losing £4.5m through the foot-and-mouth epidemic, and generally now preferring to acquire landscapes rather than more country houses, the National Trust has, within 50 days, raised £24m to buy a large Gothic house near Bristol.

Named Tyntesfield, the house was built by an industrialist with the proceeds from importing bird droppings from South America. You can detect a certain striving and straining in the National Trust's efforts to invest its latest property with a significance to match its expensive price tag. The current NT magazine informs readers that Tyntesfield "unites a uniquely expressive full-blooded form of Gothic revival architecture with a remarkable list of contents that mark a specific moment in British design history''.

Hmm... Well, no doubt the house, set in fine parkland, and with well-preserved estate buildings including its own gasworks, will prove popular. But why didn't the Trust rush forward with equal enthusiasm when Teesside's Wynyard Hall was put up for sale by the Marquess of Londonderry in 1987? And why is it holding back now the hall, home of Sir John Hall these past 15 years, is back on the market for a reported £8m?

That looks a snip for a house on the scale of Castle Howard. Just off the A19, where it is highly accessible to the conurbations of Tees, Tyne and Wear, the hall sits in largely unspoiled parkland.

More important, the historic significance of Wynyard ranks rather higher than a "specific moment in British design history''. For Wynyard stands as a symbol of the former might of coal, on whose mining profits it was built. Within many present lifetimes these sustained an extraordinarily extravagant lifestyle at Wynyard. Up to the Second World War, the Seventh Marquess still dined formally in the banqueting room, attended by four manservants in full livery and powdered wigs. Other staff included chauffeurs for each of Lord and Lady Londonderry's four cars, headed by a Rolls Royce for him, and a Rolls Royce for her.

Disraeli, Bismark, Sir Walter Scott, Wellington - just some of the colossi welcomed to Wynyard. Most remarkably, every monarch of the 20th Century bar Queen Victoria visited the hall. If any other stately home can match this royal record it is certainly not in the North. Edward VII once even conducted a Privy Council meeting there.

But so far there's not been a twitch of interest from the National Trust, even though it is eager to play a bigger role in urban areas. Sadly, under Sir John Hall, a good deal of the Wynyard estate has been sacrificed for industry, housing and leisure. But enough remains intact for Wynyard to become an asset of the National Trust. Architecturally, for its human interest and its place in the story of the North-East, Wynyard Hall cries out to be saved for the region and the nation. The National Trust is by far best equipped to do it.

Jump to it, NT.

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