
Londesborough Hall is a country house in the village of
Londesborough in the
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire t ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, close to the towns of
Market Weighton
Market Weighton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is one of the main market towns in the East Yorkshire Wolds and lies midway between Kingston upon Hull, Hull and York, about ...
and
Pocklington
Pocklington is a market town and civil parish situated at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded its population as 8,337. It is east of York and northwest of Hull.
The town's sky ...
.
The original Elizabethan building was demolished in 1819 and replaced by the present Victorian house.
History
The Londesborough estate belonged, in the 16th and early 17th century, to the Clifford family, the
Earls of Cumberland
The title of Earl of Cumberland was created in the Peerage of England in 1525 for the 11th Baron de Clifford.''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press'', 2004. It became extinct in 1643. The dukedom of Cumberland was cr ...
. The original house was built by
George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland
Sir George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, 13th Baron de Clifford, 13th Lord of Skipton, (8 August 155830 October 1605), was an English peer, naval commander, and courtier of Queen Elizabeth I of England. He was notable at court for his jo ...
, in 1589, created in the
Elizabethan style
Elizabethan architecture refers to buildings of a certain style constructed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland from 1558–1603. Historically, the era sits between the long era of the dominant architectural style o ...
.
In 1643, the last Earl,
Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland
Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland (28 February 159211 December 1643) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1622. He was created a baron in 1628 and succeeded to the title Earl of Cumberlan ...
died. His only child, Lady Elizabeth Clifford, had married
Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Cork, and thus the property passed to the Boyle family. In 1664, Richard Boyle was also created 1st
Earl of Burlington
Earl of Burlington is a title that has been created twice, the first time in the Peerage of England in 1664 and the second in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1831. Since 1858, Earl of Burlington has been a courtesy title used by the du ...
.
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that h ...
was engaged to enlarge the house and lay out formal gardens, between 1679 and 1683.
Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington
Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork, (25 April 1694 – 4 December 1753) was a British architect and noble often called the "Apollo of the Arts" and the "Architect Earl". The son of the 2nd Earl of Burlington and 3rd Ea ...
, who was the principal patron of the
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
movement in England, and himself a noted architect, had alterations made to Londesborough, undertaken by
William Kent
William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, bu ...
in the 1720s.
On the 3rd Earl's death without a male heir, in 1753, Londesborough passed to the
Dukes of Devonshire, along with all his other properties, as his daughter,
Lady Charlotte Boyle, had married
William Cavendish, soon to be the 4th Duke of Devonshire.
In 1819, the
6th Duke of Devonshire, who had a superfluity of grand homes, a large running debt inherited from his father, and many other expensive interests to pay for, including his reconstruction of
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the Cavendish family since 1549. It stands on the east bank of the ...
, had Londesbrough demolished. He is said to have regretted this, and in 1839, he had a hunting box built on the estate, but in 1845, under mounting financial strain, he sold the whole Londesborough estate to the "Railway King",
George Hudson
George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a title conferr ...
. A private railway station (
Londesborough Park) was built on the adjacent
York to Beverley line
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
for Hudson to use.
Hudson's questionable financial practices soon brought about his ruin, and in 1849, he sold Londesborough to the politician,
Albert Denison, who was created
Baron Londesborough
Baron Londesborough, of Londesborough in the East Riding of the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1850 for the diplomat and Whig politician Lord Albert Denison. He was the third son of Henry Co ...
in 1850. Denison enlarged the hunting box to create a country house in the
Victorian style. His son,
William Denison
Sir William Thomas Denison (3 May 1804 – 19 January 1871) was Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1847 to 1855, Governor of New South Wales from 1855 to 1861, and Governor of Madras from 1861 to 1866.
According to Perciva ...
, later became the
Earl of Londesborough.
The Victorian house survives in the ownership of Dr and Mrs Ashwin, who also own the Londesborough estate. The
Yorkshire Wolds Way long-distance footpath passes through Londesborough Park, which still has open pastureland described on the walk's official site as "a delight to walk through".
References
External links
*
{{coord, 53.89830, N, 0.66986, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SE875455), display=title
Country houses in the East Riding of Yorkshire