Hovingham Hall


Hovingham Hall is a country house built in the Palladian style in the village of Hovingham, North Yorkshire, England. It has been the seat of the Worsley family and the childhood home of the Duchess of Kent. It was built in the 18th century on a site the Worsleys have occupied since the 16th century.
It is built of limestone ashlar with Westmoreland slate roofs to an L-shaped floor plan. An attached stable wing forms the main entrance. The hall is Grade I listed on the National Heritage List for England. A Tuscan temple and the ornamental bridge over a waterfall in the grounds of the hall are both listed Grade II. The wall to the north and the east of the hall and a pigeoncote to the north are both also Grade II listed.

History

The Worsley family bought Hovingham manor in 1563.
The present house was built between 1750 and 1774 by Thomas Worsley VI, who was Surveyor-General to the Board of Works under George III, and designed the building himself. Unusually, it was developed around the existing stable block, which now forms the main entrance (see picture