A lot of old records are available online.
The estate was once part of an enclave belonging to the 'Prince Bishops' of Durham. Going back to medieval and post-medieval period there are a lot of archives held at Durham Cathedral and transcribed for viewing online.
Post-Conquest it belonged to a nobleman who had land on both sides of the Scottish border and who fell out with Edward I because of his allegiance to Robert Bruce. It then passed to the family of Robert de Manners whose ancestors came over with William the Conqueror. It stayed in that family for many generations. He was a classic English Knight who fought in many of the Scottish - English wars including Bannockburn and Stirling Bridge.
It was a village in the Middle Ages with a decent population but was repeatedly sacked by raiding Scots and fell into decline for a while. There was a tower here which was later replaced by a Tudor Mansion which is now no more than a couple of walls that are part of a walled garden and replaced by a Georgian House which still exists a short distance from the cottage I live in (I was creeping around it with a torch and big metal bar in the early hours last week when the alarm went off during the night - false alarm thankfully)
After the Reformation the family who owned the estate remained Roman Catholic and maintained a secret Chaplaincy. They fought for King Charles in the English Civil War and for Edward Stuart and Bonnie Prince Charlie in the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite rebellions. One son of the family was hanged at York for his rebellion. The woman for whom the current house was built was called Jacobina - her father was a Jacobite who took part in the Battle of Culloden. Always on the losing side of history!
I have permission to metal detect around the estate and have artefacts that link to all parts of the recorded history. I have been researching on and off for a few years - my account is about 50 pages so far full of colourful characters and incidents, I'm going to print it off and give copies to the current landowners as thanks for the permission to detect on the estate.