Vane House is recorded as being used as the 13th Durham VA Hospital during WW1 (1). The building is likely to have initially been built as a house associated with the nearby colliery (2), in the late 19th/early 20th century. The house and the colliery do not appear on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (3), though Vane House is on the second edition (4). On modern aerial photographs the area is dominated by an industrial estate (5), the earlier buildings having been demolished.