Austwick Hall is an historic manor house situated above the village of

Austwick Austwick is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, about north-west of Settle. The village is on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Before local government reorganisation in 1974, Austwick parish was within Settle ...

in North Yorkshire, England. The house is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and contains a collection of furniture, paintings and ethnographic art. The gardens and woodland also contain a collection of contemporary sculptures. Austwick Hall is open to the public from the beginning of April to the end of October and takes guests for bed and breakfast throughout the year.

History

It is claimed by some historians that the hall was originally a

pele tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing ...

dating from the 12th century. Although the manor is recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, the first record of the hall is not until 1551, when it was purchased by Sir John Yorke from the

Duke of Suffolk Duke of Suffolk is a title that has been created three times in the peerage of England. The dukedom was first created for William de la Pole, who had already been elevated to the ranks of earl and marquess, and was a powerful figure under Henr ...

. The hall was later sold to John Ingleby, a relative of the Yorke family. It has been suggested that the hall was rebuilt at this point, as three of the fireplaces and west chimney stacks date from the late 16th century. The Ingleby family owned the hall for the next two hundred years. The most notable member of the family was Sir Charles Ingleby. Having trained as a barrister, he was appointed a judge and knighted by James II. In later years he retired to Austwick Hall and was buried in the parish church at Clapham. In the early 19th century the hall passed to William King, who was responsible for re-modelling the house. The mullioned windows were blocked up and replaced by larger sash-windows, the roof level was raised and the grand central staircase was installed. In 1829 the hall was sold due to the bankruptcy of William King's son, John, and was bought by Thomas Clapham of Giggleswick. The Clapham family lived at Austwick Hall until 1928 and were responsible for planting the woodland and developing the gardens.

Present house and gardens

The present owners moved to the hall in 1999 and have been responsible for developing the house with its art collection. A snowdrop walk has also been created, which contains over 50 different varieties of ''

Galanthus ''Galanthus'' (from Ancient Greek , (, "milk") + (, "flower")), or snowdrop, is a small genus of approximately 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leaves and a single sm ...

''. The woodland also contains a collection of contemporary sculptures in a variety of media.

References

{{Authority control Grade II listed buildings in North Yorkshire Houses in North Yorkshire

History

Present house and gardens

See also

References