Nunnington Hall - Nunnington, York (NT)
The first house recorded at Nunnington was in 1249, but the present building dates from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with substantial modernisation carried out in the 1920s by the then owner, Margaret Rutson and her husband Colonel Ronald D'Arcy Fife.
The original house was on land leased by tenants from the Abbey of St. Mary's in York. An exception is Sir Walter de Teyes, who seems to have lived at and owned Nunnington in the early fourteenth century. He was Governor of York during the reign of Edward II and witnessed the defeat of the English at Byland by the Scots under Robert Bruce in 1322. He is buried in Nunnington church.
The wealthy Grene family subsequently owned the estate and the heiress of the family, Maud Grene, married Sir Thomas Parr in 1499. Their daughter Catherine became Henry VIII's sixth wife in 1543. Her brother, owner of Nunnington, was raised to the titles Earl of Essex and then Marquess of Northampton by virtue of his sister's connection. He was involved with the ill-fated scheme to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne after Edward VI's death in 1553 and although he escaped death, his estates, including Nunnington, were forfeited to the Crown. It was this William Parr who built the oldest parts of the surviving house which now form part of the west front. Following the forfeiture of the estate, Nunnington was again subject to let, one of the tenants being Dr Robert Huicke who was physician to both Catherine Parr and Elizabeth I. It fell to him to tell the Queen that she would never have children. He never lived at Nunnington however and the estate was managed by stewards. The sub-lease was granted to Thomas Norcliffe in 1583 and the family made many alterations over the next sixty years.
The third Thomas Norcliffe fought on the Parliamentary side of the Civil War, seeing action at Marston Moor in 1644. He allowed Nunnington to be used as accommodation by troops, who may have been engaged in the siege at nearby Helmsley Castle. The soldiers left their marks on the house, some of which can still be seen in the Reading Room and this discouraged Norcliffe from returning to Nunnington. He removed panelling, stairs, doors and leading and then sold the freehold to Ranald Graham in 1655.
It is difficult now to distinguish which of the various alterations made at Nunnington were by Ranald and which by his heir Sir Richard Graham. Ranald certainly rebuilt and refurnished the church and replaced the old dilapidated bridge with the surviving elegant stone one over the river Rye. Sir Richard rose to become Viscount Preston and Baron Esk and was Charles II's ambassador to the court of Louis XIV from 1682 to 1685. When James II fled in 1688, Sir Richard plotted for his return and was only spared from execution by the plea of his small daughter Catherine with Queen Mary.
During the late eighteenth century, the Hall status declined to become a glorified farmhouse and large parts of it fell into ruin and were destroyed. Debts accumulated by the owner Sir Bellingham Reginald Graham in the early nineteenth century meant than the estate was sold in 1839 to William Rutson. His father had made his money through trade (including the slave trade) and industry and Rutson set about becoming the perfect squire. He refurbished the church, built a village school and repaired or rebuilt almost all the village cottages. His daughter Charlotte Fanny painted the romanticised watercolours of Nunnington on display in the Reading Room.
The Fifes were the first owners to reside principally at Nunnington for a long time and they commissioned the York architect Walter Brierly to modernise the Hall in 1921. During the Second World War, some of the priceless stained glass from York's Minster was brought to Nunnington for safe keeping. Margaret gave the Hall to the National Trust in 1952 with the wish that her daughter and family came to live here as tenants, which they did. Mr and Mrs Clive gave up the tenancy in 1978, but the family still live in the village.
The Stone Hall probably occupies the site of the earlier Great Hall and is now one of the oldest parts of the building. It is decorated with the big game trophies of Colonel Fife. The Dining Room was part of the remodelling of the 1680s, with the fireplace, panelling and sash windows from Lord Preston's time here. The deep blue-green paintwork is original. Lord Preston's private withdrawing room is decorated with the coat of arms of Lady Anne Howard, along side his own arms. The Oak Hall is a very pleasant and spacious room dating from Lord Preston's time, with the panelling fashionably stripped in the 1920s. The staircase leading from the room would also have been originally painted and there is a record of a painted ceiling by Jacob Huysmans installed in 1686, but this original work is gone.
The Drawing Room was originally larger, taking in the space subsequently closed off to form Colonel Fife's Bedroom. The Oak Bedroom dated from c.1630, with the corner fireplace inserted later that century. The bed is an amalgamation of sixteenth and century pieces, with some even later. Both the Reading Room and the Panelled Bedroom show signs of the Parliamentary army's occupation of Nunnington. The West Staircase has lovely woodwork, smoothed over by generations of hands. There is now a collection of miniature rooms on display, well worth taking the time to study. In the garden, the Hall's most regular and appealing south front can be seen from the large lawn. Peacocks now roam the garden and there are late seventeenth century rusticated stone gateways.