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Henderskelf, or Castle-Howard

HENDERSKELF, or Castle-Howard, an extraparochial liberty, adjoining the parish of Bulmer, in the wapentake of Bulmer, union of Malton, N. riding of York, 3 miles (N.) from Whitwell; containing 157 inhabitants. Henderskelf is situated in the midst of a fertile and well wooded country, and comprises about 1620 acres of land, nearly the whole of which is comprehended in the park and pleasure-grounds of the Earl of Carlisle, in whom are vested all the rights and privileges of the manor. The mansion of Castle-Howard, the splendid family seat of the earls, was commenced in 1701, and completed in 1731, on the site of the old castle of Henderskelf, accidentally destroyed by fire; it is in the Grecian style, from designs by Sir John Vanbrugh, and has a front extending upwards of 360 feet. The interior is tastefully fitted up; the walls and dome are painted in fresco by Peligrini, and among other devices are, the Fall of Phaeton, Apollo and Midas, the Nine Muses, and the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Here is an ample and choice collection of paintings, statues, busts, &c., with a museum, and an antique gallery replete with curiosities. At the junction of beautiful avenues, and bordered on each side with lofty trees, stands a stately quadrangular obelisk, 100 feet in height, erected in 1714, to commemorate the victories of the Duke of Marlborough; and about half a mile eastward of the house is an Ionic temple, with four porticos, and a magnificent interior. The grounds are ornamented with several pieces of water, and on the north side is a lake covering one hundred acres. The chapel was built about eighty years since, in a very superior style, at the expense of the then Earl of Carlisle. There is an inn at the south entrance of the park. In the great storm in January, 1839, nearly 3000 tons of fine timber were blown down in the demesne.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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