Howsham Hall is a grade I listed Jacobean

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in Howsham,

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 ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is built in two storeys of limestone ashlar to a U-shaped plan with a 7-bay frontage.

History

In the early 16th century the Howsham estate belonged to nearby

Kirkham Priory The ruins of Kirkham Priory are situated on the banks of the River Derwent, Yorkshire, River Derwent, at Kirkham, North Yorkshire, Kirkham, North Yorkshire, England. The Augustinians, Augustinian priory was founded in the 1120s by Walter l'Esp ...

and following the Dissolution of the Monasteries under

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

was granted to

Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, 12th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, Order of the Garter, KG (c. 1497{{snd20 September 1543), of Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire (adjacent to the small county of Rutland), was created Earl of Rutland by King Henry ...

around 1540. His great-grandson sold it to Thomas Bamburgh. The present Hall was built in about 1610 on the site of a previous manor house, using stone from the priory, by Sir William Bamburgh, whose coat of arms, with those of his wife Mary Forthe, is above the main entrance. The cellar is

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

and the main part of the house is Jacobean. However the structure of the building has since been altered over the years. Sir William was

High Sheriff of Yorkshire The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere o ...

in 1607–08. In 1709, the house having passed by marriage to the Wentworth family, Sir John Wentworth added the east front. Having passed again by marriage to the

Cholmeley Cholmeley is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Cholmeley baronets created for people with the surname Cholmeley, one in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of the UK * James Cholmeley Russell (1841–1912), barris ...

family of

Whitby Abbey Whitby Abbey was a 7th-century Christian monastery that later became a Benedictine abbey. The abbey church was situated overlooking the North Sea on the East Cliff above Whitby in North Yorkshire, England, a centre of the medieval Northumbrian ...

, the house was remodelled in about 1775 for

Nathaniel Cholmley Nathaniel Cholmley (15 November 1721 – 11 March 1791) was a British Member of Parliament. Life He was the son of Hugh Cholmley MP and his wife Catherine, the daughter of Sir Wentworth baronets#Wentworth baronets, of North Elmsal (1692), John ...

, possibly by John Carr or Peter Atkinson. There is a Georgian

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

extension at the back of the house and some of the windows have been altered so they have larger panes in the Georgian style. The parkland was laid out by

Capability Brown Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style. Unlike other architects ...

in the 1770s for the Cholmeley family. In the grounds are three

Giant Sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (also known as the giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood or Wellingtonia) is a species of coniferous tree, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae. Giant sequoia specimens are the la ...

trees arranged in a triangle. These were given to a limited number of country estates in the seventeenth century. Sequoias were unknown to European horticulture till the middle of the 19th century, post the California goldrush. The estate passed to the Strickland family who sold the estate and its contents in 1948. In the 1950s, it was bought and converted into a boy's preparatory school.

Howsham Hall School

Howsham Hall was bought in 1956 by John Knock. It had been due to be demolished by the council, but in 1958 it opened as an independent boys' school. In 1993 the school introduced both girls and day pupils increasing school numbers to around 60. The school was closed on 6 July 2007 at the end of the Summer Term due to dwindling pupil numbers.

The School

The subjects that the school taught were French, Maths, English, Latin, Poetry, History, Debating, Singing, R.E., Ancient History, Hand Writing, Art, Geography, I.T. and Science. Drama was also offered to pupils up until year 7. The school also offered music lessons. The total number of pupils was approximately 60 which meant that each year had around 10 pupils in each year group. This meant that class sizes were small as well. Howsham Hall was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

school and had a morning and evening service every weekday and mass on Sunday. In the Autumn and Spring terms boys played rugby, with the school fielding a 1st XV and an U11s team; while the girls had ballet, aerobics or needlework classes. Pupils also did cross country on Mondays and Thursdays culminating in a 7 mile run at the end of the spring term called the "championship" an inter house competition. In the summer term boys did cricket with the school fielding 2 teams senior and junior and the girls did rounders. Horse riding was also offered on Tuesday afternoons and Swimming was done up until year 7 (Form 2) on Friday morning at Pickering. The school also offered occasional canoeing, shooting and sailing.

Allegations of abuse

In 1998 allegations of

abuse Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...

were brought against the school by a former pupil. The allegations included the beating of pupils with straps, pupils being made to stand in cold baths for hours, public

humiliation Humiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being Humility, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It is an emotion felt by a person whose social status, either by force or willingly, has ...

of bed-wetters and censorship of letters home, however none of these allegations were proven and were subsequently dropped despite numerous testimonials from other former pupils.

School closure and sale

The school announced its closure in 2007 and the building was sold to a private investor who returned the building to a single private home. The house was put up for sale in 2009

Wedding venue

In 2017 Events company Dine started to operate Howsham Hall as a wedding and events venue. The hall offers exclusive hire for weddings, parties and retreats.

References

External links

* {{coord, 54.05916, -0.88006, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in North Yorkshire Grade I listed houses in North Yorkshire Howsham, North Yorkshire