Newby Hall

Newby Hall is an 18th-century country house beside the River Ure in the parish of Skelton-on-Ure in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated 3 miles south-east of Ripon (from which its owners the Robinson family took their title Earl of Ripon) and 6 miles south of Topcliffe Castle, from which the manor was held in ancient times. In St Columba's Church, Topcliffe, survive several monuments of the Robinson family of Newby and Rainton.[1] A Grade I listed building, it contains a collection of furniture, painting, and precious artefacts. The south side of the grounds by the river has extensive herbaceous borders and woodland walks. Also Grade I listed are the Georgian stable block, leased as offices, and the Church of Christ the Consoler. Newby Hall is open to the public from 21 March until 1 October.

Newby Hall, entrance front
Newby Hall, side view

History

After the death of Sir John Crosland in 1670, the Crosland family sold the manor of Newby in the 1690s to Sir Edward Blackett, 2nd Baronet, a Member of Parliament for Ripon. He demolished the existing manor house, and built a spacious mansion in 1697, designed with the assistance of Sir Christopher Wren. He was succeeded in 1718 by his son Sir Edward Blackett, 3rd Baronet, and he in turn by his nephew Sir Edward Blackett, 4th Baronet, who in 1748 sold the estate to Richard Elcock (later Richard Elcock Weddell) to whose young son William Weddell it passed in 1762.[2]

William Weddell (1736–1792), an MP for Malton, benefited from his great-uncle's South Sea Company fortune and improved and enlarged the house during the 1760s. The interior was remodelled, to the designs of several architects, including Robert Adam.[3] The building housed William Weddell's collection of Roman antiquities which he had brought back from Italy during 1764–5.[4] William died in 1792, leaving the estate to Thomas Philip Robinson, Lord Grantham, who later changed his name to Thomas Weddell and was later known as Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey. When he died in 1859, his titles passed to his nephew, George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, 2nd Earl of Ripon, but Newby Hall went to his daughter, Lady Mary Gertrude Robinson, who married Henry Vyner (1805–1861).

Engraving of an equestrian statue: Charles II trampling Oliver Cromwell

Lady Mary commissioned the architect William Burges to build the Church of Christ the Consoler in the grounds in 1871–76 as a memorial to her son who was killed by bandits in Greece in 1870. [5] An equestrian statue brought to England by the Vyners and erected in London after the 1660 Restoration of the Monarchy was re-erected at Newby in 1883. [6] Another son, Henry Frederick Clare Vyner (1836–1883), inherited Newby, followed by his brother, Robert Charles de Grey Vyner (1842–1915),[7] who was succeeded by his daughter Mary Evelyn Vyner, who inherited Newby in 1915 and married Lord Alwyne Compton in 1886. She died in 1957.

During the Second World War Newby was one of several country retreats selected to house the Royal Family, if they had needed to be evacuated from the capital (see Coats Mission).

The present owners, the Compton family, are matrilineal descendants of William Weddell. They have restored the property. The gardens, which have extensive herbaceous borders and woodland walks, were developed in their present form by Major Edward Compton, who took over Newby in 1921. His son Robert Edward John (Robin) Compton, born in 1922, was chairman of Time-Life International for many years. He took over the running of Newby Hall in 1960. He was appointed High Sheriff of North Yorkshire in 1978 and Deputy Lieutenant from 1981.[8] The house then passed to Richard Clephane Compton and his family, Orlando, Ludovic and Sasha (Alexandra).

In 1973 a miniature railway was constructed; it was enlarged in 1985. Running along the bank of the river, the train is pulled by a Battison-built 1/5 scale model of the Royal Scot (6100) on Sundays and Bank Holidays.[9] At other times the train is pulled by the Countess De Grey or Lady Mary Vyner, LPG-powered diesel-hydraulic locomotives designed by David Curwen and built by Severn Lamb.

In 1979 a newly constructed adventure playground was opened by Sir Jackie Stewart.

Newby Hall also holds the National Collection of the genus Cornus (dogwoods).

In 1997 Robert Compton handed over the property to his younger son, Richard, his elder son James having inherited the Invercauld estate near Balmoral in Scotland. Robert's father Major Edward Compton had married Sylvia Farquharson of Invercauld.[10]

A 2007 TV adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park was filmed at the Hall.

The back of Newby Hall was used for the fictitious manor house Hundreds Hall in the 2018 film The Little Stranger, directed by Lenny Abrahamson and starring Domhnall Gleeson and Ruth Wilson. In an article entitled "Domestic Disturbances: Crafting The Look Of The Little Stranger", the production designer, Simon Elliott, said he came across a newspaper article listing the struggles to maintain large properties, which was accompanied by a photograph of Newby Hall. He added that Newby Hall was utilized in the film as an image of grandeur. [11]

Further reading
  • Drawing from the Past: William Weddell and the Transformation of Newby Hall [exhibition catalogue, Leeds Museum and Galleries] (2004)
  • Kirtley, Allan, Longbottom, Patricia, Blackett, Martin. A History of the Blacketts. (2013) The Blacketts. ISBN 978-0-9575675-0-4. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014.

References
  1. see image; see also: 'Parishes: Topcliffe', in A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 2, ed. William Page (London, 1923), pp. 70-80
  2. Family site Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  3. Drawing from the Past: William Weddell and the Transformation of Newby Hall [exhibition catalogue, Leeds Museum and Galleries] (2004)
  4. I. Bignamini, C. Hornsby, Digging And Dealing In Eighteenth-Century Rome (2010), pp. 341–43.
  5. "Christ the Consoler's Church, Skelton-cum-Newby". Welcome to Yorkshire. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  6. "Equestrian Statue Approximately 150 Metres East of Newby Hall, Newby with Mulwith". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 16 February 2013.. See Cultural depictions of Charles II of England for the history of this statue.
  7. "Vyner family of Newby". The National Register of Archives. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  8. "Obituary of Robert Edward John Compton". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  9. The text on a buff ticket for the train ride, found as a bookmark in a 1987 paperback, reads on the front "The Royal Scot Newby Hall" with a line drawing of the original Royal Scot locomotive, and on the reverse: "The Newby Royal Scot, built in 1950, is an exact model one-fifth the size of its illustrious forebear and is able to pull a load of 2½ tons. It is one of the finest working models in the country giving visitors to Newby Hall memorable rides through the orchards, bamboo groves and over rock pools alongside the river Ure...." Then follow details of when the train runs.
  10. Newby Hall (1990), p. 31.
  11. "Domestic Disturbances: Crafting The Look Of The Little Stranger". focusfeatures.com. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  • "Newby Hall". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 15 February 2013.

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