The farm was originally part of the ecclesiastical estates tied to Coverham Abbey. At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the farm was owned by the Reverend Thomas Copley, vicar of Seaham, and the Marquess of Londonderry.
Ramsey Davidson arrived at the farm in the late 1800s and worked as a farm labourer for the then tenant, James Trotter. Ramsey Davidson subsequently married James Trotter’s daughter, Marie Annie, in 1898 and purchased the farm in 1921.
Since then, the farm has remained under the ownership of the Davidsons and is now managed by the fourth generation of the family. In addition to growing commercial cereal crops, today’s farming business has diversified into:
On the 26th September 1941, a wounded Polish Flight Operator, Zbigniew Edward Zarᶒbski, bailed out of his Hurricane V6701 and landed at Seaham Grange Farm. His plane crashed near Seaham Hall due to engine trouble. Here is a first-hand account from Valerie Trigg who lived at her grandparent’s farm at Seaham Grange during the 1940s:
Early one morning there was a bang and my uncles, Frank & Douglas Davidson, ran outside to see if something was wrong with the tractor. They returned saying there was a parachutist coming down. They grabbed the rifles hanging above the scullery door, and ran out. Bailing out of a crashing plane, he shouted, ‘Don’t shoot, Polish!’ Eventually my uncles returned with the limping Polish airman between them. He was taken to the telephone to ring his headquarters. After being given refreshments by Aunty Mary, he gave her a Polish ribbon. A very large service ambulance arrived to take him away. When we went to Byron Terrace school later that morning, everyone was agog with interest. I told the teacher what had happened and our Pole had captured his toe, never having heard the word fractured! (Source: Sunderland Memories – Living History North East published 2008. ISBN 978-0-7524-4491-8)
