Scampston Hall
Encyclopedia
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North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with a serpentine park designed by Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman was an English garden designer in the onset of the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres and avenues to a freer style that incorporated formal, structural and...
and Capability Brown
Capability Brown
Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...
. It is located on the north side of the A64 Leeds/Scarborough road, 4 miles (6 km) east of Malton
Malton, North Yorkshire
Malton is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The town is the location of the offices of Ryedale District Council and has a population of around 4,000 people....
, in Scampston
Scampston
Scampston is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies close to the A64 road, on the outskirts of Rillington and approximately 3 miles east of Malton....
village, whose name was variously written in ancient documents, Scamestun, Skameston, Skameston, and Skampston, and which was probably been derived from a personal name.
History
The hall has been in the same family since the 1690s when the estate was bought by Sir William St Quintin, 3rd BaronetSir William St Quintin, 3rd Baronet
Sir William St Quintin, 3rd Baronet , of Harpham in Yorkshire, was an English official and Member of Parliament.He was the eldest son of William St Quintin of Muston ; he succeeded to the family baronetcy in November 1695 on the death of his grandfather, Sir Henry St Quintin of Harpham, who...
, who was Receiver General
Receiver General
A Receiver General is an officer responsible for accepting payments on behalf of a government, and for making payments to a government on behalf of other parties. Receiver General is an alternative title for a Treasurer.-See also:...
for Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Hull
Kingston upon Hull (UK Parliament constituency)
Kingston upon Hull, often simply referred to as Hull, was a parliamentary constituency in Yorkshire, electing two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, from 1305 until 1885...
. The baronetcy expired on the death of another Sir William, without issue in 1795. He was succeeded by his nephew, William Thomas Darby Esq., the son of Vice-Admiral George Darby
George Darby
Vice Admiral George Darby was an officer in the Royal Navy. He was the second son of Jonathan Darby III Esq. , of Leap Castle, in King's County, Ireland.-Early career:Darby joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer...
, who assumed the surname and arms of St Quintin, and was the grandfather of William Herbert St Quintin. The Hall was extensively remodelled in 1801 by the architect Thomas Leverton, in the Regency style, and with fine Regency interiors. Scampston later passed to the Legard family (see Legard Baronets
Legard Baronets
The Legard Baronetcy, of Ganton in the County of York, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 29 December 1660 for John Legard. The member of an ancient Yorkshire family, he fought as a Royalist in the Civil War and sat as Member of Parliament for Scarborough after the Restoration...
).
The serpentine park of about 1.7 square kilometres was laid out first by Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman was an English garden designer in the onset of the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres and avenues to a freer style that incorporated formal, structural and...
and later by Lancelot "Capability" Brown in 1772. It includes an unusual ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
"Bridge Building," concealing the end of a sheet of water and closing the view.
The park contained a large deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
herd until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Arthur F. Moody's Water-Fowl and Game-Birds in Captivity; Some Notes on Habits & Management (H. F. & G. Witherby, 326 High Holborn, London, W. C.) relates in detail the experience of the bird-keeper for Scampston's grounds in the years of William Herbert St Quintin.
Scampston's refurbished Walled Garden, designed by Piet Oudolf
Piet Oudolf
Piet Oudolf is an influential Dutch garden designer, nurseryman and author. He is a leading figure of the "New Perennial" or "New Wave Planting" movement, using bold drifts of herbaceous perennial plants and grasses which are chosen for their structure as much as for their flower colour .His books...
, opened in 2004.
The house is open by guided tour.