Londesborough Park, Market Weighton, England

The first house and landscape on the Londesborough estate in East Yorkshire dates from the mediaeval period when the Fitzherbert family leased it from the Archbishop of York. The manor house, with an adjoining closed garden, was on the site of the current stable block. The estate passed to the Clifford family in the late 14th century and in 1589, a new Hall was built to the southwest, giving a view to the natural valley below. Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington, following his marriage to Elizabeth Clifford, heiress to the estate, did further work on the Hall from 1676. He called in Robert Hooke at the same time to develop the gardens.

In 1704, Richard Boyle, the 3rd Earl of Burlington inherited this estate along with others, most notably Chiswick where he was to implement his revolutionary ideas on landscape design. Unlike Chiswick, there are no garden buildings, instead he utilised the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape, which may have reminded him of Italy.

In 1726, he appointed Thomas Knowlton as his gardener and the latter was instrumental in turning Londesborough into a more natural landscape. Apart from a series of radiating avenues from the south front of the house, all the other areas including the lake are informal. The lakes constructed between 1728 and 1730 are unlike the formal pools and canals at Chiswick at the time. The formal plantation to the west was turned into a pleasure garden. It retained its formal structure but serpentine walks were added as a secondary feature. On Burlington’s death in 1753, the estate passed to his son-in-law, the future 4th Duke of Devonshire. It was little visited, although the gardens were maintained. However the Hall was demolished in 1818 and park divided into two farms. In 1839, a shooting lodge was built next to the stable block that became Londesborough Park.

After a brief period of ownership by George Hudson in the 1840s, the estate was sold to the Denison family who took the title of Lord Londesborough. They restored the pleasure gardens and the lakes that had silted up and probably replanted some of the trees in the old avenues. Londesborough became the property of the Lupton Booth family in 1923 and then the Ashwins, the current owners, in 1935. Although the grounds are private, some attempts have been made to maintain the estate including replanting of some of the avenues and the maintenance of the lakes.

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

The estate was part of the Archbishop of York's manor of Everingham in 1086. It passed to the Fitzherbert family in 1108, to the Broomfleet family in the 14th century and to the Clifford family in 1469. In 1643 the estate passed by marriage to Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork (created Earl of Burlington in 1664) for whom Robert Hooke (1635-1703) laid out gardens about 1660-80. Boyle reintroduced deer to the park about 1650. The 3rd Lord Burlington remodelled the gardens and extended and landscaped the park, and an estate map of 1739 may have been prepared to show the works when completed. Burlington preferred Londesborough to any of his other country seats, spending part of almost every summer in visits which could last for several weeks or months. After his death in 1753 the estate passed to his son-in-law, who became the 4th Duke of Devonshire in 1755. The park and Hall were little used in the years which followed, and the park was divided into farms in 1820.

In 1845 it was bought by George Hudson who in turn sold it to Lord Albert Denison (created Lord Londesborough in 1850) who recreated the parkland and restored the lakes. The site was sold by the Londesboroughs to the Lupton Booths in 1923, and it subsequently passed to the Ashwin family. It remains (1998) in private ownership.