Burton Constable Hall
OS grid reference:- TA 188 367
Burton Constable Hall is a large Elizabethan country house with eighteenth and nineteenth century interiors, filled with fine furniture, paintings and sculpture. The hall is situated around 3 miles (5 km) to the south-east of the village Skirlaugh and about 9 miles (14 km) north-east of Hull. The hall is set in a park designed by Capability Brown and has been the home of the Constable family for over 400 years.
The lower portion of the north tower is the oldest part of the house and dates back to the twelfth century. In the late fifteenth century a new brick manor house was built at Burton Constable. Sir John Constable commenced the building of the Elizabethan mansion that stands today in the 1560's. This incorporated remains of the earlier manor house while adding a new range containing a Great Hall, a Parlour, Chambers and South Wing. The hall was substantially remodelled in the eighteenth century.
Rooms open to the public include the Great Hall, Long Gallery, the classically inspired Dining Room, Chippendale furnished Great Drawing Room, early nineteenth century Chinese Room and Chapel. The restored Stable Block contains new visitor facilities, interactive displays, exhibitions and events that tell the story of stable life in past times. The park has two lakes and a bridge designed by Capability Brown.
Visitors can also see the Burton Constable Whale, the 60 feet long skeleton of a Sperm whale that was stranded on the coast nearby in 1825 and is featured in the famous novel Moby Dick.