Castle Howard is an

English country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

in Henderskelfe,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, north of

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. A private residence, it has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the

Howard family The Howard family is an English noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has of ...

for more than 300 years. Castle Howard has been used as a filming location in several films and television shows, including in

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

's 1981 television adaptation of

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

's ''

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of Charles Ryder, esp ...

'' and in a 2008 film adaptation.

History

In 1577, the 4th Duke of Norfolk's third son, Lord William Howard, married his step-sister Elizabeth Dacre, youngest daughter of the 4th Baron Dacre. She brought with her the sizable estates of Henderskelfe in Yorkshire and

Naworth Castle Naworth Castle, also known or recorded in historical documents as "Naward", is a castle in Cumbria, England, near the town of Brampton, Carlisle, Brampton. It is adjacent to the A69 road (England), A69 road from Newcastle upon Tyne to Carlisle, ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

. Castle Howard was commissioned by the 3rd Earl of Carlisle, who was a male-line descendant of Lord William Howard. The site selected was part of the Henderskelfe estate, including the former castle. The creation of Castle Howard, began in 1699, with the start of design work by

John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restor ...

. It was completed with the decoration of the Long Gallery in 1811. The house is surrounded by a large estate which, at the time of the 7th Earl of Carlisle, covered over and included the villages of Welburn, Bulmer,

Slingsby Slingsby may refer to: People * Slingsby (surname) * Slingsby Baronets Places * Slingsby, North Yorkshire * Slingsby Channel, a strait in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada Other uses

* Slingsby ...

Terrington Terrington is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the Howardian Hills, west of Malton. History The village is mentioned four times in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Teurintone''. The lands were divided ...

and

Coneysthorpe Coneysthorpe is a small village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated near Castle Howard and west of Malton. The Centenary Way long-distance path runs through the village. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district ...

. The estate was served by its own railway station, Castle Howard station, from 1845 to the 1950s. While attending

Girton College Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the univ ...

during the early

Edwardian era In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

, Lady Dorothy Georgiana Howard, the daughter of the 9th Earl and " Radical Countess" of Carlisle, befriended six of her fellow students, including the future archaeologist

Gisela Richter Gisela Marie Augusta Richter (14 or 15 August 1882 – 24 December 1972) was a British-American classical archaeologist and art historian. She was a prominent figure and an authority in her field. Early life Gisela Richter was born in London, ...

and future candidate for Roman Catholic Sainthood Anna Abrikosova. All six were invited by Lady Dorothy to Castle Howard as guests during holidays. After the death of the 9th Earl in 1911, Castle Howard was inherited by his fifth son, Geoffrey Howard, with later earls having

as their northern country house. Henry 'Chips' Channon, the diarist and future Conservative MP, visited Castle Howard in August 1923 and recounted in his diary that 'The house is uncomfortable in the extreme and is badly kept up. Everywhere there are signs of decaying magnificence.' Channon added that 'The galleries are reminiscent of the Vatican with their hundreds of busts and statues of emperors and gods. The great library is an enormous narrow red room the length of the house and is hung with enough paintings to found a museum.' In 1952, Castle Howard was opened to the public by its then-owner, Lord Howard of Henderskelfe, a younger son of Geoffrey Howard. It is now owned by a Howard family company, Castle Howard Estate Limited, and managed by the Hon. Nicholas Howard (the second son of Lord Howard of Henderskelfe) and his wife, Victoria.

House

The 3rd Earl of Carlisle first spoke to William Talman, a leading architect, but commissioned Vanbrugh, a fellow member of the

Kit-Cat Club The Kit-Cat Club (sometimes Kit Kat Club) was an early 18th-century English club in London with strong political and literary associations. Members of the club were committed Whigs (British political party), Whigs. They met at the Trumpet Tavern ...

, to design the building. Castle Howard was that gentleman-

dilettante Dilettante or dilettantes may refer to: * Amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidactic ...

's first foray into architecture, but he was assisted by

Nicholas Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor ( – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principal architects ...

. Vanbrugh's design evolved into a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

structure with two symmetrical wings projecting to either side of a north–south axis. The crowning central dome was added to the design at a late stage, after building had begun. Construction began at the east end, with the East Wing constructed from 1701 to 1703, the east end of the Garden Front from 1701 to 1706, the Central Block (including dome) from 1703 to 1706, and the west end of the Garden Front from 1707 to 1709. All are exuberantly decorated in Baroque style, with coronets, cherubs, urns and cyphers, with Roman Doric

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s on the north front and Corinthian on the south. Many interiors were decorated by

Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (29 April 1675 – 2 or 5 November 1741) was one of the leading Venetian history painters of the early 18th century. His style melded the Renaissance style of Paolo Veronese with the Baroque of Pietro da Cortona ...

. The Earl then turned his energies to the surrounding garden and grounds. Although the complete design is shown in the third volume of

Colen Campbell Colen Campbell (15 June 1676 – 13 September 1729) was a pioneering Scottish architect and architectural writer who played an important part in the development of the Georgian style. For most of his career, he resided in Italy and England. As ...

's ''

Vitruvius Britannicus Colen Campbell (15 June 1676 – 13 September 1729) was a pioneering Scottish architect and architectural writer who played an important part in the development of the Georgian style. For most of his career, he resided in Italy and England. As ...

'', published in 1725, the West Wing was not yet started when Vanbrugh died in 1726, despite his remonstration with the Earl. The house remained incomplete on the death of the 3rd Earl in 1738, but the remaining construction finally started at the direction of the 4th Earl. Vanbrugh's design was not completed: the West Wing was built in a contrasting Palladian style to a design by the 3rd Earl's son-in-law, Sir Thomas Robinson. The new wing remained incomplete, with no first floor or roof, at the death of the 4th Earl in 1758. Although a roof had been added, the interior remained undecorated by the death of Robinson in 1777. Rooms were completed stage by stage over the following decades, but the whole was not completed until 1811 under

Charles Heathcote Tatham Charles Heathcote Tatham (8 February 1772 in Westminster, London – 10 April 1842 in London), was an English architect of the early nineteenth century. Early life He was born in Duke Street, Westminster, the youngest of five sons of Ralph Tath ...

. A large part of the house was destroyed by a fire on 9 November 1940. The dome, the central hall, the dining room and the staterooms on the east side were entirely destroyed. Antonio Pellegrini's ceiling decoration, the ''Fall of Phaeton'', was lost when the dome collapsed. In total, twenty pictures (including two

Tintoretto Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...

s) and several valuable mirrors were lost. The fire took the Malton and York Fire Brigades eight hours to bring under control. Some of the devastated rooms have been restored over the following decades. In 1960–61 the dome was rebuilt, and in the following couple of years Pellegrini's ''Fall of Phaeton'' was recreated on the underside of the dome by Canadian artist Scott Medd. The East Wing remains a shell, although it has been re-roofed. In 2009 an underwater ground-source heat recovery system was installed under the castle's lake that halved the heating bill. According to figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, over 269,000 people visited Castle Howard in 2019.

Gardens

Castle Howard has extensive and diverse gardens. There is a large formal garden immediately behind (i.e., on the south side of) the house. The house is prominently situated on a ridge and this was exploited in the development of an

English landscape park The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

, which adjoins and opens out from the formal garden. The gardens are Grade I listed on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Two major garden buildings are set in this landscape: the Temple of the Four Winds at the end of the garden, and The Mausoleum in the park. There is a lake on either side of the house. There is a

woodland garden A woodland garden is a garden or section of a garden that includes large trees and is laid out so as to appear as more or less natural woodland, though it is often actually an artificial creation. Typically it includes plantings of flowering shrub ...

, Ray Wood, immediately east of the house, and the

Walled Garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...

which contains decorative rose and flower gardens. The Ray Wood walls date from the 18th century and were restored in 2007. Further buildings outside the preserved gardens include The Pyramid, restored in 2015, The Obelisk, and several follies and eyecatchers in the form of fortifications which have been restored in recent years; these include Carrmire Gate and Pyramid Gate. In nearby Pretty Wood, there are two more monuments, The Four Faces and a smaller pyramid by Hawksmoor. Located on the estate, but operating separately from the house and gardens and run by an entirely independent charitable trust, is the Yorkshire Arboretum.

Listed status

The house is

Grade I listed 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 there are many other listed structures on the estate, several of which are on the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

In media

Castle Howard's most famous appearance in film was as Brideshead Castle in both the 1981 TV series and the 2008 film adaptations of

's novel ''

''. It has been used as a location in many other TV and film productions including: the 1965 film ''Lady L''; the 1966 film ''

The Spy with a Cold Nose ''The Spy with a Cold Nose'' is a 1966 British comedy film directed by Daniel Petrie and starring Laurence Harvey, Daliah Lavi, Lionel Jeffries, Denholm Elliott, and Colin Blakely. It was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. Plot A d ...

'';

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

's 1975 film ''

Barry Lyndon ''Barry Lyndon'' is a 1975 epic historical drama film written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel '' The Luck of Barry Lyndon'' by William Makepeace Thackeray. Narrated by Michael Hordern, and starring Ryan O'N ...

''; the 1995 mini-series ''

The Buccaneers ''The Buccaneers'' is the last novel written by Edith Wharton. The story is set in the 1870s, around the time Wharton was a young girl. It was unfinished work, unfinished at the time of her death in 1937 and published in that form in 1938. Whar ...

''; the 2006 film '' Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties''; the 2013 TV series '' Death Comes to Pemberley''; the 2015 Bollywood film '' Shaandar''; in the 2016 ITV series '' Victoria''; and the 2020

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''

Bridgerton ''Bridgerton'' is an American alternative history regency romance television series created by Chris Van Dusen for Netflix. Based on the book series Bridgerton (novel series), of the same name by Julia Quinn, it is Shondaland's first scripted ...

'' (2020).

Gallery

File:Castle Howard Turquoise Drawing Room.jpg, Castle Howard Turquoise Drawing Room File:Castle Howard The Great Hall Entrance.jpg, Castle Howard The Great Hall by Vanbrugh, paintings by

, the dome recreated in 1961 after its destruction by fire in 1940, and repainted by Scott Ackerman Medd File:Castle Howard Lady Georgianas' Dressing Room.jpg, Castle Howard, Lady Georgiana's Dressing Room File:Castle Howard Lady Georgianas' Bedroom.jpg, Castle Howard, Lady Georgiana's Bedroom File:Castle Howard Crimson Dining Room.jpg, Castle Howard, Crimson Dining Room File:Castle Howard Bedroom.jpg, Castle Howard Bedroom File:Castle Howard Chapel.jpg, Castle Howard Chapel, altered and redecorated in 1875–78 by

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

and

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

File:Castle Howard Antique Passage.jpg, Castle Howard Antique Passage by Vanbrugh File:The Octacon, Castle Howard - panoramio.jpg, The Octagon, in the Long Gallery 1802 by

File:The Long Gallery, Castle Howard - panoramio.jpg, The Long Gallery 1802 by Charles Heathcote Tatham

References

External links

* * * {{authority control Houses completed in 1712 English Baroque architecture English gardens in English Landscape Garden style Gardens in North Yorkshire Grade I listed houses in North Yorkshire Country houses in North Yorkshire Domes in the United Kingdom + John Vanbrugh buildings Nicholas Hawksmoor buildings Museums in North Yorkshire Historic house museums in North Yorkshire Arboreta in England Woodland gardens