Markenfield Hall: One of Yorkshire’s oldest stately homes with more than 700 years of history
Markenfield Hall has stood for more than 700 years and was the focal point of The Rising of the North in 1569 - here is its history.
Markenfield Hall is an early 14th century moated manor house near Ripon.
The great hall stands above an undercroft and was originally accessed through an exterior stone staircase.
The house was a significant location, planning centre, and rallying point for the Rising of the North in 1569.
Over the last 200 years, the hall was lived in by a series of tenant farmers who preserved the house in its Medieval form.
As such, it is largely untouched and the money earned from its preservation was also used for Fountains Abbey prior to the reformation.
History of Markenfield Hall
There were two households in Markenfield recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 and in 1150 the estate was owned by the Le Bret family who had a house there and adopted the name de Markenfield.
The current house was built for John de Markenfield, an associate of Piers Gaveston and a servant of Edward II.
The Crown granted a licence to crenellate Markenfield in 1310, the same year that John was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Sir Thomas Markenfield was appointed High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1484 and fought on the side of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.
The house acted as the starting point for The Rising of the North but an act of treason by Sir Thomas Markenfield saw it seized.
It lasted until fell under the radar until 1761 when it was bought by Sir Fletcher Norton who later became Lord Grantley, First Baron of Markenfield, a title that is still held by the family today, as mentioned on the Markenfield Hall website.
Not much is known about the chapel after 1569, but in the 1880s, it was used to store grain and in recent years, it was fully restored.
The brother of 3rd Lord Grantley married socialite Caroline Sheridan in 1827. Caroline Norton, as she became, founded the divorce and custody laws we have today.
Before her, a wife’s property and children belonged to her husband. She is also the great, great, great grandmother of the present Lord Grantley.
The Grantley family have owned the house since 1761.
The significant restoration of the hall began in 1980 and was completed in 2008, however, smaller restoration projects are expected to continue until around 2030.