Moulton Hall is a grade I listed 17th-century

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

Moulton Moulton may refer to: Places in the United Kingdom ;In England *Moulton, Cheshire *Moulton, Lincolnshire **Moulton Windmill * Moulton St Mary, Norfolk *Moulton, Northamptonshire **Moulton College, agricultural college **Moulton Park, industria ...

near

Richmond, North Yorkshire Richmond is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, and the administrative centre of the district of Richmondshire. Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is from the county town of Northallerton and situated on t ...

, England. The hall is built to a rectangular plan in three storeys with cellar and attics of ashlar and rubble with Westmorland slate roofs. The frontage has five bays surmounted by three unusual curved gables and the sides two bays. The house is surrounded by approximately of grounds.

History

The hall was rebuilt on an ancient site in approximately 1650 for Leonard Smithson, who was succeeded in 1650 by his son Christopher Smithson. The latter's son George Smithson was MP for the North Riding in the

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the Hou ...

in 1654 and briefly MP for

Northallerton Northallerton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It had a population of 16,832 in the 2011 census, an increase ...

in 1659. On his death in 1692 the estate was sold by his widow to Sir Mark Milbanke of Halnaby. His descendant Sir Ralph Milbanke, 6th Baronet sold it to Colonel Sir

James Charles Dalbiac Lieutenant-General Sir James Charles Dalbiac, (1776–1847) was a British Army officer and Member of Parliament. Life He was born the eldest son of Charles Dalbiac of Hungerford Park, Berkshire. In 1793 he joined the 4th Light Dragoons as a ...

to pay the dowry when Sir Ralph's only daughter

Anne Isabella Milbanke Anne Isabella Noel Byron, 11th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness Byron (''née'' Milbanke; 17 May 1792 – 16 May 1860), nicknamed Annabella and commonly known as Lady Byron, was wife of poet George Gordon Byron, more commonly known as Lord Byro ...

disastrously married the poet

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

in 1815. Sir Charles sold it in turn in 1836 to the Sanderson family to provide a dowry for his only daughter, Susanna, who married

James Innes-Ker, 6th Duke of Roxburghe James Henry Robert Innes-Ker, 6th Duke of Roxburghe, KT (12 July 1816 – 23 April 1879) was a Scottish peer. Early life Innes-Ker was the only surviving child of the 5th Duke of Roxburghe and the former Harriet Charlewood (–1855). Before h ...

that year. The property was then occupied by members of the Sanderson family for the remainder of the 1800s, including Michael Sanderson, who died in 1850, Matthew Sanderson, who died in 1854, John Sanderson, who died in 1860, Dennison Sanderson (fl. 1863, 1871), Henry Matthew Sanderson (fl. 1890), Henry Middleton Sanderson (fl.1906). The

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

acquired the house in 1966 and promotes its "beautiful carved staircase" as its main feature. It is open to the public on a limited basis by arrangement with the tenant. The current tenants of Moulton Hall are

John Eccles, 2nd Viscount Eccles John Dawson Eccles, 2nd Viscount Eccles, (born 20 April 1931), is a British Conservative peer and businessman. He is one of the ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999. ...

and his wife, the Baroness Eccles of Moulton.

References

External links

Moulton Hall information at the National Trust
Country houses in North Yorkshire National Trust properties in North Yorkshire Historic house museums in North Yorkshire Grade I listed buildings in North Yorkshire {{Yorkshire-struct-stub