Londesborough Hall
Encyclopedia
Londesborough
Londesborough is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north of the market town of Market Weighton.The civil parish is formed by the village of Londesborough and the hamlet of Middlethorpe....
in the East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, close to the towns of Market Weighton
Market Weighton
Market Weighton is a small town and 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 Hull and York, about from either one...
and Pocklington
Pocklington
Pocklington is a small market town and civil parish situated at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, approximately east of York....
.
The original house was built by the Earl of Cumberland
Earl of Cumberland
The title of Earl of Cumberland was created in the Peerage of England in 1525 for the 11th Baron de Clifford. It became extinct in 1643. See also Duke of Cumberland.The subsidiary title of the first three earls was Baron de Clifford...
in 1589. In 1643 the property passed to the Boyle family, Earls of Cork
Earl of Cork
Earl of the County of Cork, usually shortened to Earl of Cork, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1620 for the Anglo-Irish politician Richard Boyle, 1st Baron Boyle...
and from 1664 also Earls of Burlington
Earl of Burlington
Earl of Burlington is a title that has been created twice, the first time in the Peerage of England and the second in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation was for Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Cork, on 20 March 1664...
. Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
was engaged to enlarge the house and lay out formal gardens between 1679 and 1683. The 3rd Earl of Burlington
Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington
Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork PC , born in Yorkshire, England, was the son of Charles Boyle, 2nd Earl of Burlington and 3rd Earl of Cork...
, who was the principal patron of the Palladian movement in England and himself a noted architect, had alterations made to Londesborough by William Kent
William Kent
William Kent , born in Bridlington, Yorkshire, was an eminent English architect, landscape architect and furniture designer of the early 18th century.He was baptised as William Cant.-Education:...
in the 1720s.
In 1753 Londesborough passed to the Dukes of Devonshire along with all of Lord Burlington's other properties, as the 4th Duke had married his daughter and heiress. In 1819 the 6th Duke of Devonshire
William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire
William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire KG, PC , styled Marquess of Hartington until 1811, was a British peer, courtier and Whig politician...
, 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
Chatsworth House is a stately home in North Derbyshire, England, northeast of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield . It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and has been home to his family, the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549.Standing 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
George Hudson , English railway financier, known as "The Railway King", was born, the fifth son of a farmer, in Howsham, in the parish of Scrayingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, north of Stamford Bridge, east of York. He is buried in Scrayingham...
. Hudson's questionable financial practices soon brought about his ruin, and in 1849 he sold Londesborough to the banker Alfred Denison, who was created Baron Londesborough
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 Conyngham, 1st Marquess Conyngham, and his wife Elizabeth...
in 1850. Londesborough enlarged the hunting box to create a country house in the Elizabethan style. His son 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
Yorkshire Wolds Way
The Yorkshire Wolds Way is a National Trail in Yorkshire, England. It runs 79 miles from Hessle to Filey, around the Yorkshire Wolds...
long distance footpath passes through Londesborough Park, which still has open pastureland which the walk's official site describes as "a delight to walk through."