The history of Beningbrough Hall

The new house (on a slightly different site to the old) was completed about 1716 under the direction of the Yorkshire-born master craftsman William Thornton. It remains at its heart a showcase for the highest quality regional craftmanship of the early 18^th century, mixing French and Italian design influences with English architecture. Standout features include Thornton’s grand cantilever staircase and the intricately carved bedroom decorations, complete with family portraits in chronological order built into the wainscot.

The Earles

The Bourchier line at Beningbrough ended with Margaret Earle (1739–1827), John Bourchier’s niece. She and her husband Giles Earle (1732–1811) had secured Beningbrough and the wider family estates in 1761 after a legal battle with John Bourchier’s widowed daughter-in-law. The financial costs of this would have lasting consequences.

Originally from London, Margaret and Giles used Beningbrough to entertain and establish themselves in Yorkshire society. They started a family they hoped would succeed them in good fortune. However, the couple spent too freely, and with the cost of securing the estate, they were bankrupted in 1778 and had to flee to the Continent. For the next decade, Beningbrough was largely unused while creditors were paid off.

From around 1790 the Earles returned. Having revived some of their fortune by selling off much of the wider estate, they invested in developing the gardens, including the impressive walled garden, built in 1792.  

The couple’s financial insecurity may have led their sons to seek their fortunes through careers in the army. Thomas, the younger son, died in his first winter posted to Canada in 1800; William, the eldest, died prematurely in 1806 from an apparent alcohol-induced illness.

The Dawnays

With no surviving children or family, the widowed Margaret Earle chose a family friend, Rev. William Henry Dawnay (1772–1846), 6^th Viscount Downe from 1832, as heir to her remaining Yorkshire estate. At this point, this comprised Beningbrough and three surrounding villages.  

For the next 60 years, William and his younger children and heirs, Lydia (1813–1890) and Payan Dawnay (1815–1891), carefully managed the Beningbrough estate. This was a time of great economic change; the building of the York to Newcastle railway in the early 1840s stimulated the growth of housing, farming and light industry on the estate. By contrast, Beningbrough Hall itself remained largely unchanged.

In 1891 the estate passed to Payan and Lydia’s nephew, Lewis Dawnay (1846–1910) and his wife, Lady Victoria (née Grey) (1853–1922). The estate was briefly rented to William Jackson, MP for Leeds, while he served as Chief Secretary of State for Ireland. In 1892, Lewis and Victoria and their young family moved into Beningbrough. They would go on to split their time between Yorkshire and London until Lewis’s death in 1910. They introduced a few modern features to the hall, including electricity, a new kitchen and a conservatory. Much of this work was funded from stocks and shares (notably in British and North American railways) as the costs of running the shrunken estate produced relatively small profit. 

Beningbrough next passed to eldest son Guy Dawnay (1878–1952) who, as a senior career soldier, preferred to rent out Beningbrough Hall to the independently wealthy Marriot Parkinson (1872–1917) and his family. The Parkinsons used the hall as a place to entertain friends and family until Marriot’s poor health saw him give up the tenancy in 1915. Unwilling to run the estate from afar during the First World War, Guy decided to sell Beningbrough estate in late 1916.

Lady Chesterfield

With some tenants free to buy their own property and others forced to move on, Beningbrough Hall itself was threatened with possible demolition. It was eventually purchased by Enid, Lady Chesterfield (1878–1957) in 1917. She oversaw a major redecoration and, with her much older husband, Edwyn Scudamore-Stanhope, 10^th Earl of Chesterfield (1854–1933), continued to use Beningbrough as a home and place to entertain through the 1920s and early 1930s. She also established a well-regarded horse stud and beef farm. However, later in the 1930s, growing financial challenges and another global war would bring profound change.

Second World War

Between 1941–5 Beningbrough was requisitioned as the living quarters for Royal Airforce and Royal Canadian Airforce crew flying from nearby RAF Linton. Almost 1,500 Airforce personnel passed through the house during this period, including young men from Britain, Canada, the USA, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe). Almost 48% of these wartime lodgers would be killed or captured in day and night bombing raids against Germany and occupied Europe.

The National Trust

Lady Chesterfield returned to the repaired house after the war, but at the time of her death in 1957 none of her family wished to take on such a costly property.  Long recognised as a rare survivor of early 18^th-century country house design and craftmanship, Beningbrough was instead accepted by the Treasury in lieu of tax and passed to the National Trust with a small collection of surviving contents.

The hall at first proved a challenge to run, with few contents and a relatively remote location. This changed in the late 1970s when major investment in visitor facilities and a partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, with its focus upon Beningbrough’s early 18^th-century art and interiors, saw the hall and gardens attract a new audience.

Beningbrough has continued to evolve ever since. In the 2020s, a generous bequest has helped support ambitious new garden developments and a much-expanded independent art exhibition programme which, inspired by Beningbrough’s outstanding interiors and gardens, has become a showcase for a range of historic and contemporary objects and works of art.

Further reading

Taylor, Pat. ‘The Restoration Bourchiers of Beningbrough Grange’, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal LX, 1988, p.127.

Trinity College, Dublin study of the Beningbrough staircase, accessed 9 June 2025.

Constantine, Matthew. ‘What havoc does ambition make: An 18^th century tale of two Yorkshire families’, National Trust Cultural Heritage Magazine Spring/Summer 2025, p22 accessed 23 September 2025.

Binney, Marcus. ‘Beningbrough Hall Revisited’, Country Life CLXX, 1981.