| Bilton Hall | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Former names | Bilton Park |
| General information | |
| Status | Grade II Listed |
| Architectural style | Tudor-Jacobean |
| Address | Bilton Hall Drive, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG1 4DW |
| Owner | Slingsby Family (formerly) Stockdale Family (formerly) Watson Family (formerly) |
Bilton Hall is a Grade II listed large country house near Harrogate, North Yorkshire. It was historically the home of the prominent Stockdale family, of which three Knaresborough MPs were members. [1]
There has been a building on the site of Bilton Hall since the 14th Century. The first structure sat within a newly created park to form a hunting lodge for the Slingsby family. [2] Perhaps the best known member of the family was William Slingsby, who is credited as the discoverer of the first spa water well in Harrogate. [3]
In 1631 it was acquired by Thomas Stockdale, son of William Stockdale of Green Hammerton, whose family had been significant Yorkshire landowners since the reign of Henry VI. [4] [5] Thomas Stockdale went on to represent Knaresborough in Parliament from 1645 until 1653. [6] His son, William Stockdale took his fathers seat in Parliament, serving as member for Knaresborough from 1660 until his death in 1693. [7] The Bilton estate then passed to his nephew Christopher Stockdale, who in turn became MP for Knaresborough in April 1693 holding the seat until his own death 1713. [8] Christopher's heir, William Stockdale, inherited Bilton Hall upon his fathers demise. Like many hundreds in the country at the time, William had over-invested in the notorious South Sea Company and lost a great fortune when the shares crashed in 1721. [9] The earliest of the surviving elements of the current structure date back to the Stockdale period of ownership. [10]
In 1742 Bilton was acquired from the Stockdale family by John Watson of Malton. The Watsons carried out a program of refurbishment on the hall and constructed the present stable and coach house. [11]
Knaresborough Castle is a ruined fortress overlooking the River Nidd in the town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England.
Harrogate is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow Carr gardens. 13 miles (21 km) away from the town centre is the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Nidderdale AONB. Harrogate grew out of two smaller settlements, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate, in the 17th century. For three consecutive years (2013–2015), polls voted the town as "the happiest place to live" in Britain.
Knaresborough is a market and spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, England, on the River Nidd. It is 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Harrogate.
Harrogate was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. As with all constituencies, the constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The constituency was renamed Harrogate and Knaresborough in 1997.
Harrogate and Knaresborough is a parliamentary constituency in North Yorkshire which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Andrew Jones, an MP from the Conservative Party. The constituency was formed in the 1997 boundary changes, before which it was named Harrogate.
Bilton is a suburb of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, situated to the north-east of the town centre.
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 or are now defunct, so that its functions are now largely ceremonial.
William Grainge was an English antiquarian and poet, and a historian of Yorkshire. He was born into a farming family in Dishforth and grew up on Castiles Farm near Kirkby Malzeard in the North Riding of Yorkshire, where he studied the archaeological site beneath the farm buildings, now known as Cast Hills settlement. Although he left school at age 12, he educated himself well enough to become a clerk to a solicitors' firm in Boroughbridge. He later established a bookshop in Harrogate and published numerous books on local history and topography, besides publishing a number of anonymous poems and discourses about local natural history.
Moor Monkton is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Nidd and 7 miles (11 km) north-west from York city centre.
Sir Richard Hutton, the younger was a Yorkshire landowner and Member of Parliament for Knaresborough who lost his life in the English Civil War.
There have been four baronetcies created for members of the Slingsby family who settled at Scriven Hall, Scriven, Knaresborough, Yorkshire in the 14th century.
Scriven is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England, close to the town of Knaresborough. From 1947 to 1998 Scriven was part of the Claro Registration District, until this was abolished. It is situated north-west of the A6055 road from Bond End and situated north-east of the B6165 Ripley Road.
Thomas Stockdale of Bilton Park supported the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War, and sat as a member for Knaresborough in the Long Parliament from 1645. He was also a Yorkshire magistrate, who was closely allied to the Fairfaxs and was a bailiff or agent for Lord Fairfax.
William Stockdale was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.
Sir Henry Slingsby was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1601 and 1624.
Sir Henry Slingsby, 5th Baronet of Scriven was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons for 41 years between 1714 and 1763.
The Forest of Knaresborough was a royal hunting forest in Yorkshire, England. It covered an area of some 45 square miles (120 km2) west and south of the town of Knaresborough, between the River Nidd and the River Wharfe, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire and now in North Yorkshire.
Hay-a-Park Gravel Pit is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, adjacent to the east side of the town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England. Having been a disused and flooded quarry since the 1970s, it now consists of the large Hay-a-Park Lake and three smaller ponds, besides associated reedbeds, scrub, woodland and grassland. It was designated as a SSSI in 1995 because it supports a number of wintering birds, including a large flock of goosander. This site is "one of the most northerly inland breeding populations of reed warbler in Britain." Hay-a-Park was once part of a royal park, an early landowner being Edward II.
Christopher Walters Stockdale (1665–1713) was an English politician and landowner in Yorkshire who served as Member of Parliament for Knaresborough from 1693 until his death in 1713.
The Old Town Hall is a former municipal building in the Market Place, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England. The structure, which was used as an events venue by Knaresborough Urban District Council, is a Grade II listed building.
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