This was my view of the house while I had a lovely picnic with Lucy and family yesterday at Temple Newsam. We met up with a friend of theirs from university days and I had the opportunity to re-visited some of my favourite areas of the grounds.
Temple Newsam house was built between 1500 and 1520. It has a long and complicated history - these are some of the highlights:
In 1537 its owner, Thomas, Lord Darcy was executed for the part he played in the Pilgrimage of Grace and the property was seized by the Crown. In 1544 Henry VIII gave it to his niece Lady Margaret Douglas and her husband Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox. Their son Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, who was born in the house in 1545, married Mary, Queen of Scots, by whom he was the father of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. Following the marriage Temple Newsam was seized in 1565 by Queen Elizabeth I. In 1603 King James I, successor to Elizabeth, granted it to his Franco-Scottish second cousin Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox (1574-1624). In 1622 the estate was bought by Sir Arthur Ingram. During the next 20 years the mansion was rebuilt, incorporating some of the previous house in the west wing.
Sir Arthur's grandson Henry Ingram, 1st Viscount of Irvine married Lady Essex Montagu, a daughter of Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester. Between 1736 and 1746 Henry Ingram, 7th Viscount of Irvine remodelled the west and north wings of the house, creating new bedrooms and dressing rooms and a picture gallery.
In the 1760s Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount of Irvine, employed Capability Brown to re-landscape the park. The work was continued by his widow Frances Shepheard, who rebuilt the south wing, and lived at Temple Newsam until her death in 1807.
During the First World War (1914-17) the south wing of the house was turned into a hospital by Edward Wood and his wife Dorothy, the owners of the house at that time. Edward Wood fought in France as part of the Yorkshire Hussars, whilst Dorothy oversaw the running of the hospital as part of the Mayors War Committee. In 1922 Edward Wood sold the park and house to Leeds Corporation for a nominal sum, placing covenants over them to ensure their preservation for the future.
Both house and estate are open to the public and are an extremely popular place for locals (and some of us from further away) to visit.
Thank you for your lovely comments and favs. They are much appreciated.
Katharine