Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Multi Media Mapping.

A Norman Manor house, the lower chamber of which still remains, was first constructed on this site in 1173. Since then the property has never been sold, though it has passed from family to family on occasions when the male line has ended. In 1599 Sir Henry Griffith, who had obtained the property via the female line, began construction of a new house on the site, using the architect Robert Smithson. Smithson, who was Master Mason to Elizabeth I, also built Longleat, Wollaton and Hardwick. Building was complete by about 1610, with stone quoins contrasting the red-brick of the house. The estate subsequently passed to the Boynton family when Sir Henry Griffith's daughter married Sir Matthew Boynton, and remained in the Boynton family until the end of the eighteenth century when the estate was inherited by Cecily Boynton, who married Thomas Lamplugh Wickham. Since the 1950s the house has been extensively restored, including the stunning Long Gallery. Now run by a registered charity, the estate remains a lived-in family home occupied by descendants of the Boynton family.

 

Burton Agnes Hall

Castle Howard

In 1699 the Third Earl of Carlisle, having rejected the plans of a leading architect, approached the dramatist John Vanbrugh, who, at that point, had never built anything in his life. Vanbrugh subsequently recruited Nicholas Hawksmoor to assist him in the practical side of design and construction. Although the final western wing of the Garden Front was completed by 1709, building proceeded for the next century. Indeed, further alterations were still being made in the last quarter if the 19th century as part of a plan to harmonize both wings. Tragically, on the morning of 9 November 1940, fire broke out in the South-East Wing and swept through the house into the Great Hall, destroying the dome and nearly twenty rooms. In 1960-62 the dome was rebuilt and redecorated, and, as time and money permit, the gradual task of restoring the fire-damaged sections continues.

Whitby Abbey, imposingly sited on the cliff top, was founded in AD657. Seven years later, the Synod was held here to debate the dating of Easter. The Abbey was destroyed during a Viking invasion in AD867, but was revived by one of William the Conqueror’s knights in the late 1070s. By 1220, the Norman church proved too small for the many pilgrims who visited it, and rebuilding began. However, after its dissolution in 1538, the Abbey passed to the Cholmley family, whose house was constructed in large part from materials plundered from the monastery.

Approaching the Abbey from the town involves a climb of 199 steps (however, car access is available from the south). Be sure also to visit the exquisite St Mary's Church, with its unusual 18th century interior, carved by ship-builders.

Whitby Abbey

Lastingham Village

Nestling near the edge of the North York Moors National Park, close to the picture-postcard Hutton-le-Hole, Lastingham is typical of the unspoiled Moors' villages. A monastery was founded here in 654 by St Cedd, and flourished until the Danes destroyed it in the ninth century. In 1078 the Abbot of Whitby persuaded the King to restore Lastingham, and work began on the abbey. However, only the crypt, which has has survived unaltered, was completed before the Abbot and his monks left abruptly to set up a new monastery in York.

The first Saxon Church in Beverley was established by John of Beverley about AD700. By AD937 a second church had been built to replace the first, and this church was granted the right of sanctuary by King Athelstan.  This second church was subsequently enlarged but by about 1170 a third church, this time built in the Norman Style, replaced the old Saxon church. The current Minster was commenced about 1220, with the construction taking two centuries. It remains to this day one of the best-loved of English churches, but the town itself is also not be missed. It remains a lively, thriving Wolds' market town with a wealth of historic architecture.

Beverley Minster

Robin Hood's Bay