Journey back to Civil War times to track the history of a remarkable family and their fascinating house set at the heart of a traditional Dorset estate.

© NTPL / Richard Pink

The Bankes's move in

Kingston Lacy has been the family seat of the Bankes since 1663.

In 1634, Sir John Bankes, Attorney-General to King Charles I, bought Corfe Castle. A year later, he bought the Kingston Lacy estate.

The Bankes family lost Corfe Castle in dramatic fashion during the English Civil War when 'Brave Dame Mary' defended it against two Parliamentarian sieges. Kingston Lacy was their home for the next 330 years.

The first house

© NTPL

Sir John's son, Ralph, was knighted at the Restoration for the Bankeses' loyalty. In 1663, he set about building a new seat at Kingston Lacy.

He commissioned the architect Sir Roger Pratt to design him a house. The resulting Restoration mansion has undergone numerous transformations since but still contains Ralph's picture collection.

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Transforming Kingston Lacy

© NTPL / James Mortimer

Kingston Lacy's appearance today is thanks to two illustrious members of the Bankes family, Henry Bankes the Younger and his adventurer son, William John.

Henry with his architect Robert Furze Brettingham transformed the house in the 1780s. Their designs for the Library and Saloon survive. Henry also swept away the old formal garden in preference for today's park.

Escapades in Egypt

© NTPL / Derrick E Witty

The changes kept coming when from 1835 to 1841 William John employed the eminent architect Sir Charles Barry to re-design Kingston Lacy as a Venetian Renaissance palazzo, complete with a cupola and grand marble staircase.

William John was also a pioneering explorer and he amassed a large collection of antiquities from his travels in Egypt. They are now on display in the Egyptian Room, the sole surviving gentleman's collection from the early days of British Egyptology.

William John's passion for Kingston Lacy never slackened. He spent the rest of his life commissioning fittings for the house. The house is his monument and the Spanish Room his golden masterpiece.

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Edwardian elegance

The house is shown today as it was in its Edwardian hey-day, reflecting the influence of Walter Ralph and Henrietta Bankes.

Their son Ralph bequeathed Kingston Lacy to the National Trust in 1981. The estate boasts not only a great house, garden and parkland, but 12 working farms spread over 8,000 acres. It remains the biggest bequest in our history.

Continuing the work

In our hands, work has continued to restore parts of Kingston Lacy which have become lost over time.

© National Trust

A recent project has restored the Edwardian Japanese Garden back to its former glory. The restoration was one of the biggest garden projects we had ever undertaken.