Beningbrough Hall
OS grid reference:- SE 525 567
Beningbrough Hall is a large Georgian mansion near the North Yorkshire village of Beningbrough in the Vale of York. The hall is located around 8 miles to the north of York and occupies a pleasant situation overlooking the River Ouse.
Constructed in 1716 by John Bourchier III, the hall replaced an Elizabethan manor which once occupied the site and was built by his ancestor Sir Ralph Bourchier. Ralph Bourchier's grandson, the Puritan Sir John Bourchier, was among those who signed the death warrant of King Charles I in 1649. He was executed at the Restoration in 1660.
John Bourchier III returned to England from a fashionable Grand Tour of Europe were he had gained inspiration for the house. He was High Sheriff of Yorkshire for 1719-1721 and died in 1736 at the age of 52.
John Bourchier (1710-1759) inherited the property from his father, from him it passed to Dr. Ralph Bourchier and then to his daughter, Margaret. Margaret Bourchier married Giles Earle and died childless in 1827. After being owned for over 100 years by the Bourchier family, the estate passed to thei distant relative Rev. William Henry Dawnay, the future 6th Viscount Downe. Dawnay died in 1846 and the hall passed to Lewis Dawnay. He transformed the building, adding electricity and other modern conveniences.
It was purchased in 1916 by the wealthy heiress, Enid Scudamore-Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield. The countess restored the by now neglected building and filled it with grand furnishings and paintings, including two spectacular state beds from her family home, Holme Lacy, in Herefordshire.
During the Second World War the hall was occupied by the Royal Air Force,when it was used to house airmen from the bomber squadrons at nearby Linton-on-Ouse. Lady Chesterfield returned to the house in 1047 and died in 1957 and in June 1958 the estate was acquired by the National Trust.
The red brick hall boasts stylish baroque interiors and wood carving. Due to an agreement with the National Trust, the National Portrait Gallery provide most of the portraits in the rooms. The hall contains more than 100 eighteenth century portraits and has seven new interpretation galleries called 'Making Faces: eighteenth century Style'. Visitors may even sit for a twentyfirst century digital portrait.
The Hall is set in extensive grounds. A grand drive leads to the main frontage and a walled garden. A Bourchier knot, an heraldic device used by the Bourchier family, is cut into a lawn which adjoins the house. The series of interlocking gardens each have their own distinct seasonal interest. Outside the main building there is a Victorian laundry and a walled garden were vegetables are grown.
There is also has a a wilderness play area, community orchard, restaurant, shop and garden shop.