Red Barns House, Kirkleatham Road, Redcar, Redcar and Cleveland
Red Barns House dates from 1868-70. It was designed by Philip Webb, for Thomas Hugh Bell. A plaque records: GERTRUDE LOWTHIAN BELL AT ONE TIME LIVED IN THIS HOUSE. SCHOLAR, TRAVELLER, ADMINISTRATOR AND PEACE MAKER. A FRIEND OF THE ARABS. She was born in 1868 and was one of the first women to get a degree from Oxford. She travelled widely in the Middle East and spoke Arabic, Turkish and Persian. This led her into service with British Intelligence during World War I. She was part of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force in Basra and Baghdad and single handedly mapped Iraq. She advised Winston Churchill and was influential in British foreign policy. She died in 1926
