Duncombe Park is the seat of the Duncombe family who previously held the title Earls of Feversham. The title became extinct on the death of the 3rd Earl in 1963, since when the family have continued to hold the title Baron Feversham. The park is situated one mile south-west of Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England and stands in 300 acres (120ha) of parkland. The estate has a commanding location above deeply incised meanders of the River Rye within the North York Moors National Park.
The house was completed in 1713 for Thomas Duncombe (born Thomas Brown) to designs by the Yorkshire gentleman-architect William Wakefield.[3] It was remodelled in 1843 by Sir Charles Barry. In 1879 the main block was gutted by fire and remained a ruin until 1895 when rebuilding was carried out by William Young.[4] The reconstruction was based on the original design, though there were changes made, especially in the interior layout to meet contemporary needs. It is of two storeys with a basement and attic.
The house itself is not open to the public but visitors are allowed into the 30-acre (12ha) garden from April until the end of August.
History
In 1694 Charles Duncombe, one of the richest commoners in England, bought the 40,000-acre (16,000ha) Helmsley estate, occasionally staying at the castle. After his death in 1711 it passed to his sister Ursula and from her to her son Thomas Brown, who changed his name to Thomas Duncombe and commissioned the building of the present house. On his death in 1746 it passed to his son, Thomas Duncombe II, who extended the grounds to include the Rievaulx Terrace.[5] In 1774, Anne Duncombe, daughter of Thomas Duncombe of Duncombe Park was married to Robert Shafto, of Whitworth Hall, near Spennymoor, County Durham, the famous "Bonny Bobby Shaftoe" of the folk song.
In the late 1700s the estate was owned by Thomas' son, Charles Slingsby Duncombe, who was succeeded in 1803 by his eldest son and heir Charles Duncombe, 1st Baron Feversham. Charles was MP for Shaftesbury, Aldborough, Heytesbury and Newport IoW and High Sheriff of Yorkshire for 1790–91. He built up a considerable art collection at the house and was made 1st Baron Feversham in 1826.[6] His son William succeeded him and was MP for Yorkshire and after 1832 for the new North Riding constituency. William's son William Ernest was created the 1st Earl of Feversham. The second Earl was killed in the First World War and the earldom became extinct on the death of the third earl in 1963.
The building was used as a girls' school between 1914 and 1980. The Rievaulx Terrace and Temples were acquired by the National Trust in 1972. After 1985 the house was restored as a family home by the 6th Baron Feversham, but on his death in 2009 it was left not to his heir Jasper Duncombe, 7th Baron Feversham, but to a younger son Jake Duncombe.[7]
The house closed to the public in 2011.[8] In March 2013 the National Centre for Birds of Prey opened a branch in the grounds.[9]
The grade I-listed temple was built around 1730. It is constructed of sandstone with a lead roof, and is in Palladian style. It has a circular plan, and is surrounded by Tuscan columns on a stepped podium. Within it is a room with a doorway, three sash windows, a plain frieze and a mouldedcornice. This is surmounted by a circular drum containing a circular window and with a hemispherical lead-covered dome.[14][21]
Northern Stable Block
The Northern Stable Block
The stable block was designed by Charles Barry and completed in 1746. It is built of sandstone, and forms an open courtyard with a quadrant wall to the east. There is one storey and an attic, and seven bays The outer bays are flanked by rusticatedpilasters, and contain round-arched recesses, with semicircular windows above. The central bays form an arcade of round arches with keystones, and above is a dentilledcornice and a blank parapet. The corners rise to attics with corner urns. At the left is a clock tower with a curved pyramidal roof and a weathervane.[11][21]
Laundry
The former laundry
The grade II*-listed former laundry dates from about 1730. It is built of sandstone, and has a rectangular courtyard plan with one storey. In the centre is a doorway with a radial fanlight, flanked by four attached Tuscan columns, with an entablature and a stepped pediment. Between these are blind panels within colonnades. Outside, there are blank round-headed recesses under mouldedcornices, flanked by low plain walls.[16][21]
Ha-ha
The ha-ha wall in the grounds of the house is built of sandstone, and consists of four to five rusticated courses with capstones. It curves, and runs from the northern stable block to the Ionic temple.[17] It is unusual as an example of a retaining wall with decorative stonework.[22] Its date of construction is unconfirmed; some sources describe it as "England's first ha-ha".[23]
Orangery
The grade II-listed orangery was completed in 1751. It was designed by Robert Richardson Banks and Charles Barry, and is built of sandstone, rusticated on the front, with a dentilledcornice and a plain parapet with urns. There is a single storey and eleven bays. The main central part has three bays and a flat roof, and contains three round-arched windows separated by Corinthianpilasters, paired on the corners. The four-bay wings are of half the height, and are roofless. They contain square unglazed window openings, between which are rusticated pilasters carrying a cornice.[21][24]
↑ Died 1730; also credited with additions to Gilling Castle (Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, 3rd ed. 1995, s.v. "Wakefield William").
↑ "Duncombe Park burned down". The Northern Echo. No.2, 806. Column E. 13 January 1879. p.3. OCLC6685296.
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Baron Feversham is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation, in the Peerage of Great Britain, came in 1747 when Anthony Duncombe, who had earlier represented Salisbury and Downton in the House of Commons, was made Lord Feversham, Baron of Downton, in the County of Wilts. He had previously inherited half of the enormous fortune of his uncle Sir Charles Duncombe. However, Lord Feversham had no sons and the barony became extinct on his death in 1763. The peerage was revived in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1826 in favour of his kinsman Charles Duncombe, who was created Baron Feversham, of Duncombe Park in the County of York. He was a former Member of Parliament for Shaftesbury, Aldborough, Heytesbury and Newport. Duncombe was the grandson of Thomas Duncombe, son of John Brown by his wife Ursula Duncombe, aunt of the first Baron of the 1747 creation. Ursula had inherited the other half of her brother Sir Charles Duncombe's fortune. Lord Feversham son, the second Baron, sat as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Yorkshire and the North Riding of Yorkshire.
Rievaulx Terrace is a site located in the North York Moors National Park, in North Yorkshire, England, overlooking Rievaulx Abbey and owned by the National Trust. The site is a grass-covered terrace following a serpentine course across the side of a wooded escarpment overlooking the ruins of the abbey. At either end of the terrace stand two mid-18th century follies: small Palladian temples.
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Helmsley Castle is a medieval castle situated in the market town of Helmsley, within the North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire, England.
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William Duncombe, 2nd Baron Feversham, was a British peer with a large estate in the North Riding of Yorkshire. He was prominent in the affairs of the Royal Agricultural Society and owner of a prize-winning herd of short-horn cattle. He served as a Tory Member of Parliament (MP) for the Riding from 1832 to 1841, after which he sat in the House of Lords, having succeeded to the title on the death of his father. From 1826 to 1831 he had sat as an Ultra-Tory MP. He was the first MP to support Richard Oastler's campaign for Factory Reform, and gave it unwavering support for the rest of his life; in 1847 he seconded the Second Reading in the Lords of the Factory Act of that year.
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Helmsley is a civil parish in the former Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It contains 72 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, five are listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, seven are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The parish contains the town of Helmsley and the surrounding countryside. In the parish is the country house of Duncombe Park, which is listed together with associated structures in the gardens and grounds. Also in the parish is Helmsley Castle, the remains of which are listed. Most of the other listed building are houses, cottages and associated structures, shops and offices. The others include churches, public houses and hotels, the market cross and a memorial in Market Place, bridges, farmhouses and farm buildings, former schools, the town hall and a telephone kiosk.
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