Beningbrough Hall Gardens
Beningbrough Hall is a large Baroque mansion, situated just over 6 miles north-west of York, and was built in 1716 by a York landowner, John Bourchier III to replace his family's modest Elizabethan manor, which had been built in 1556 by Sir Ralph Bourchier on his inheritance to the estate. Local builder William Thornton oversaw the construction, but Beningbrough's designer remains a mystery; possibly it was Thomas Archer.
John Bourchier was the High Sheriff of Yorkshire for 1719–1721 and died in 1736 at the age of 52. The house then passed to Dr Ralph Bourchier, a 71-year-old physician and from him to his daughter, Margaret, who lived there for 70 years.
After over 100 years in the Bourchiers' possession, the estate passed in 1827 to the Rev. William Henry Dawnay, the future 6th Viscount Downe, a distant relative. He died in 1846 and left the house to his second son, Payan. The house was neglected, prompting fears that it might have to be demolished. In 1916, a wealthy heiress, Enid Scudamore-Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield, bought it and immediately set about its restoration, filling it with furnishings and paintings from her ancestral home, Holme Lacy in Herefordshire.
During the Second World War the hall was occupied by the Royal Air Force then latterly, the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Lady Chesterfield died in 1957, and in June 1958 the estate was acquired by the National Trust after it had been accepted by the government in lieu of death duties. In partnership with the National Portrait Gallery the hall exhibits more than a hundred 18th-century portraits and has seven new interpretation galleries called 'Making Faces: 18th-century Style'.
The house has baroque interiors, cantilevered stairs, wood carving and central corridors which run the length of the house. Externally the house is a red-brick Baroque mansion with a grand gravelled drive running to the main frontage and a walled garden.
It has a very pleasant restaurant/cafe, shop and garden shop, and was shortlisted in 2010 for the Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award.
Part of the gardens are currently undergoing a redesign by garden designer Andy Sturgeon (Summer 2024).
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