Toasting 300th birthday with a cuppa

It is referred to as an Italian palace in Yorkshire and was inspired by a Grand Tour of Europe.

Over the centuries, Beningbrough Hall, near York, which this year marks its 300th anniversary, has been owned by many different families, each making their mark on the changing history of the estate. To celebrate its birthday there will be events throughout the year telling the stories of the house and its inhabitants including one with a connection to the nation’s favourite cuppa.

John Bourchier built the hall in 1716, taking inspiration from his Grand Tour of Europe, where he spent two years in Italy absorbing the Italianate baroque architectural style. It was most likely his marriage to wealthy heiress Mary Bellwood which provided cash for him to build the historic home which reopens to the public on Saturday.

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Three hundred tea cups have been used to create an installation to tell the story of Lady Victoria Dawnay, who lived at Beningbrough, from 1892 until the early 1900s. She was the granddaughter of Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, after who Earl Grey tea is named.

Clare Alton-Fletcher exhibitions manager for the National Trust York, helping to set out 300 teacups, one for every year of Beningbrough HallClare Alton-Fletcher exhibitions manager for the National Trust York, helping to set out 300 teacups, one for every year of Beningbrough Hall
Clare Alton-Fletcher exhibitions manager for the National Trust York, helping to set out 300 teacups, one for every year of Beningbrough Hall

A spokeswoman for the hall said: “Lady Victoria brought fun to Beningbrough, her four children were allowed to skate on the pond in winter, present plays in the Hall, play shuttlecock in the gallery and toboggan down the main stairs.”

Lady Victoria and her husband Colonel Dawnay brought modern times to Beningbrough, introducing the first motor cars, electricity and flush toilets to the house.

Over the years the hall and its grounds have been reinvented by its different owners and its changing story continues to the present day including its revival under the National Trust and its partnership with the National Portrait Gallery which sees the hall used an art gallery displaying some of the nation’s artworks in a period setting.

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David Morgan, general manager for the National Trust, in York, said: “It is a story about how the house survived and re-invented itself, from a family home with the children tobogganing down the grand staircase to a country house gallery hosting major loans from the National Portrait Gallery.”

Clare Alton-Fletcher exhibitions manager for the National Trust York, helping to set out 300 teacups, one for every year of Beningbrough HallClare Alton-Fletcher exhibitions manager for the National Trust York, helping to set out 300 teacups, one for every year of Beningbrough Hall
Clare Alton-Fletcher exhibitions manager for the National Trust York, helping to set out 300 teacups, one for every year of Beningbrough Hall

Beningbrough Hall has been a northern home for a collection of the National Portrait Gallery’s eighteenth-century portraits since 1979 and to celebrate its 300 years, Dr Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery, has chosen four portraits of people who have shaped British history and culture, for display in the hall, marking each of the centuries of the hall, past, present and future.

A portrait by John Singer Sargent of Octavia Hill, one of the National Trust founders, is featured together with inventor and writer Adam Walker, Yorkshire playwright Alan Bennett and Leeds-based Olympians Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee.

Dr Cullinan, said: “It gives me great pleasure to share highlights from the collection as part of Beningbrough Hall’s 300th birthday celebrations.”

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