Londesborough Hall

Londesborough Hall from Britannia Illustrata by Kip and Knyff (1709)

Londesborough Hall is a country house in the village of Londesborough in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, close to the towns of Market Weighton and Pocklington.

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 original house was built by the Earl of Cumberland in 1589.

In 1643 the last Earl Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland died. His only child Elizabeth had married Richard Burlington, 2nd Earl of Cork and thus the property passed to the Boyle family. In 1664 Richard Boyle was also created 1st Earl of Burlington. Robert Hooke was engaged to enlarge the house and lay out formal gardens between 1679 and 1683. The 3rd Earl of Burlington, who was the principal patron of the Palladian movement in England and himself a noted architect, had alterations made to Londesborough by William Kent 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 Charlotte Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington 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, 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.

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 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 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."

External links

• Map sources for Londesborough Hall