Temple Newsam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Temple Newsam House |
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Temple Newsam House – front view
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| Type | English Country House |
| Location | Temple Newsam, Leeds |
| OS grid reference | SE357322 |
| Area | West Yorkshire, England |
| Built | 1500–1520 |
| Architectural style(s) | Tudor-Jacobean |
| Governing body | Leeds Museums and Galleries |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Official name: Temple Newsam House | |
| Designated | 18 October 1951 |
| Reference no. | 1255943 |
Temple Newsam is a famous old house in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was built in the Tudor and Jacobean periods. The beautiful gardens around the house were designed by a famous landscape artist named Capability Brown.
Temple Newsam House is a very important building, listed as Grade I. It is one of nine sites managed by Leeds Museums and Galleries. The area around the house is even named after it, called the Temple Newsam ward. You can find it east of Leeds, near places like Halton Moor and Whitkirk.
Contents
The Story of Temple Newsam
Early Days: From 1066 to 1520
In 1086, a very old book called the Domesday Book mentioned this area as Neuhusam, which means "new houses." It was owned by a powerful family called the De Lacys. Around 1155, Henry de Lacy gave the land to the Knights Templar. These were a group of medieval knights who built a special place called Temple Newsam Preceptory nearby. They were very good at farming and had many animals.
Later, in 1307, the Knights Templar were no longer in charge. The land changed hands many times. In 1377, it went to Philip Darcy. His family owned it until 1488, when Thomas, Lord Darcy took over. Between 1500 and 1520, the grand house we know today, Temple Newsam House, was built.
Royal Connections: 1500 to 1650
In 1537, Thomas, Lord Darcy, lost the property to the Crown. This happened because of his part in a protest called the Pilgrimage of Grace. In 1544, King Henry VIII gave Temple Newsam to his niece, Lady Margaret Douglas. She lived there with her husband.
Their son, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was born in the house in 1545. He later married Mary, Queen of Scots, and they became the parents of King James I. A painting of Henry and his brother might even show what a room in Temple Newsam looked like back then.
After 1565, Queen Elizabeth I took control of Temple Newsam. Then, in 1609, King James I gave the estate to his cousin, Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox. Ludovic was a favorite of the King and received many lands, including coalmines nearby.
However, Ludovic was always in debt. In 1622, he sold the estate to Sir Arthur Ingram, a rich merchant. Sir Arthur rebuilt much of the mansion over the next 20 years. He kept parts of the old house in the west wing. The north and south wings were rebuilt, and the east wing was taken down after a big fire in 1635.
After Sir Arthur died, his son, also named Arthur, continued the building work. In 1649, he retired to Temple Newsam.
New Owners and Changes: 1650 to 1900
After Arthur the younger's son died, Temple Newsam went to Arthur's second son, Henry Ingram, 1st Viscount of Irvine. In 1661, Henry married Lady Essex Montagu. The estate then passed through his family for many years.
The 4th Viscount brought back many paintings from his travels in Europe between 1704 and 1707. Records from 1692 show that both women and men worked on the estate, especially during haymaking. In 1712, a new way to approach the house was designed, with a bridge and ponds.
Between 1738 and 1746, Henry Ingram, 7th Viscount of Irvine, updated the house. He added new bedrooms, dressing rooms, and a picture gallery. A painting from around 1745 shows Henry and his wife in front of Temple Newsam.
In the 1760s, Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount of Irvine, hired Capability Brown to redesign the park. Charles's wife, Frances Shepheard, was very interested in garden design. She is even shown as a shepherdess in a painting at Temple Newsam. Both Frances and Charles were very involved in the park's design. Some parts of Brown's plan, like a large lake, were never finished. Records from 1759 show that women also worked as garden laborers.
After Charles died in 1778, Frances rebuilt the south wing in 1796. She lived at Temple Newsam until she passed away in 1807.
Their oldest daughter, Isabella Ingram, inherited Temple Newsam. She was a close friend of the Prince of Wales (who later became King George IV). In 1806, George visited Temple Newsam and gave Isabella some beautiful Chinese wallpaper. She put it up around 1820, adding cut-out birds from a famous book called The Birds of America.
Lady Hertford was very kind to the local people. She gave them food and clothing. She also let the servants have an annual dinner and dance at Temple Newsam. During her later years, canals, railways, and roads were built near the estate, and coal mining increased. She worked with the companies building these projects.
In 1820, the writer Sir Walter Scott wrote a book called Ivanhoe. It featured a Templar building that many believe was based on Temple Newsam. When Isabella died in 1834, she left Temple Newsam to her sister, Frances Ingram Shepheard.
In 1841, Hugo Charles Meynell Ingram inherited the estate. In 1868, the Prince of Wales visited Temple Newsam. After Hugo Charles died, his son, Hugo Meynell-Ingram, inherited it. When he died two years later, his wife, Emily Meynell-Ingram, took over. Emily spent a lot of time at Temple Newsam. She made many changes, like replacing windows and updating rooms. Emily left Temple Newsam to her nephew, Edward Wood.
The 20th Century and Beyond
In 1909, a large part of the estate was bought by Leeds Corporation to build a sewage plant. During the First World War (1914–1917), the south wing of the house became a hospital. Edward Wood and his wife Dorothy helped run it.
In 1922, Edward Wood sold the park and house to Leeds Corporation for a small amount of money. He made sure they would be protected for the future. On October 19, 1923, Temple Newsam opened to the public, along with a golf course. Newspapers compared it to Hampton Court, another famous royal palace.
In July 1932, the Great Yorkshire Show was held at Temple Newsam and was very popular. When the Second World War started in September 1939, Temple Newsam closed to the public. Art from Leeds City Art Gallery was stored there for safety. However, it soon reopened in November 1939, with the objects on display.
Temple Newsam's Design
Old and New Parts of the House
When the new house was built, parts of the early 16th-century house were kept. This included some brickwork and bay windows on the west side. The new house was shaped like an 'E'. The Long Gallery and entrance hall in the south wing followed the styles popular in the Elizabethan and early Jacobean times.
The entrance porch has classic columns, but they are in a Flemish style, not the Italian style. In the cellars, which are mostly from the Tudor period, you can still see old Tudor doorways and wooden parts. Hidden under later decorations, Lord Darcy's crest was found scratched into the plaster in the Blue Damask room. An old list from 1565 suggests that the hall, great chamber, gallery, and chapel are still in their original places. There's also a Tudor doorway in the north wing that was likely the entrance to the first chapel.
In the 17th century, the south and north wings were rebuilt. The east wing was taken down and replaced with a low wall and an archway. This gave the house a fashionable 'half-H' shape. Around the top of the house, there are letters carved into a stone railing. They spell out a message about Sir Arthur Ingram's faith and loyalty: "All Glory And Praise Be Given To God The Father The Son And Holy Ghost On High Peace On Earth Good Will Towards Men Honour And True Allegiance To Our Gracious King Loving Affection Amongst His Subjects Health And Plenty Be Within This House."
The chapel in the north wing still has some 17th-century features. These include stained glass with family symbols and a carved wooden pulpit from around 1636. An inventory from 1667 shows the house had 66 rooms and 11 outbuildings. An engraving from 1699 by Kip and Knyff accurately shows the house, including buildings that were later removed.
Updates and Additions
In 1718, an underground passage was suggested to connect the north and south wings. This tunnel linked the original kitchens in the south wing to the rest of the house. In 1738, Henry, 7th Viscount Irwin, wrote about how neglected the house was. He decided to remodel almost the entire house, following the Palladian style. He hired craftsmen from York to do the work.
He made the gallery wider, improved the ceiling and windows, and added more rooms. The gallery, finished around 1746, has beautiful Rococo carvings. It also features paintings of classical scenes by Antonio Joli. The gallery ceiling has detailed plasterwork, including a medallion of King George I. The new Saloon and Library ceilings were decorated by Thomas Perritt and Joseph Rose.
The unique sphinx gate piers, built in 1768 by Lancelot Brown, were based on designs used at Chiswick. The main rooms in the west wing were redecorated, and the windows were replaced. A large stable block was built north of the house in 1742, also in the Palladian style.
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In 1796, Frances Shepheard hired someone to change the south wing. She wanted it to look like Sir Arthur Ingram's original house. The wing became two stories high, with reception rooms on the ground floor and bedrooms above. In the 1790s, the kitchens moved to the north wing. The old kitchen became a "brushing room" where servants cleaned nobles' clothes after hunting.
At the end of the 19th century, Emily Meynell Ingram replaced the windows with stone frames and leaded glass. She rebuilt the north porch and added her family's coat of arms. She also redecorated several rooms and had the grand oak staircase installed. The dining room, great staircase, and Lord Darnley's room were updated in the Elizabethan style. In 1877, Emily turned the library into a chapel.
Coal Mining History
Old records show that there were coal mines on the estate as early as the 1600s. A coal mine in Halton village was rented out from 1660 to at least the 1790s. The people renting the mine usually had to supply coal to Temple Newsam House.
In 1815, William Fenton, a "Coal King" of Yorkshire, started digging a mine shaft at Thorpe Stapleton. He named it Waterloo Colliery to remember the famous battle that year. The colliery paid rent to the Temple Newsam landowner for the coal they dug up. Fenton also built a village for his workers, which became known as Waterloo. A famous cricketer, Albert Ward, was born there in 1865.
Deep coal mining on the estate stopped when the Temple Pit of Waterloo Main Colliery closed in 1968.
Open-pit mining began on the estate in May 1942. Seven sites south of the house were used, which almost completely destroyed Capability Brown's beautiful landscape. One site was very close to the house. This type of mining continued until 1987. Today, you can't see any trace of it because the parkland has been restored.
In 2019, there was a special exhibition at Temple Newsam about coal mining called 'Blot on the Landscape'.
Temple Newsam Today
Today, Leeds City Council owns Temple Newsam House and its estate. They are open for everyone to visit. The house has been carefully restored on the outside. Inside, many rooms are being returned to how they looked in the past.
The large estate includes many woods, which are part of the Forest of Leeds. You can find places for sports like football, golf, running, cycling, horse-riding, and orienteering. There's also a special playground for children, opened in 2011, which is designed for both disabled and able-bodied kids. Pegasus Wood, south of the house, remembers veterans of the Normandy Landing at Pegasus Bridge in 1944.
The Home Farm is also open to the public. It has a barn built in 1694. It is the largest working farm in Europe that focuses on rare animal breeds. It's one of only 16 farms approved by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust in the country. You can see many types of rare cattle, sheep, and goats there.
Temple Newsam also has large gardens with a famous rhododendron walk. It holds six national plant collections of specific plants like Michaelmas daisies and phlox. Inside the Walled Garden, there are long borders filled with beautiful flowers.
Important Listings
Temple Newsam House is a Grade I listed building, which means it's very important. The grounds are listed as Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. The stable block and the Little Temple are both Grade II* listed, meaning they are also very significant. Many other buildings and structures on the estate are Grade II listed, including the Sphinx Gates, the walled garden, a fountain, and a stone bridge.
Art and Collections
Temple Newsam has a large collection of fine art and decorative items. These collections are so important that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) says they are of national importance.
The Picture Gallery itself is a great example of early English Rococo style. It has artwork brought back from Europe by Edward, 4th Viscount, in the early 1700s. These include paintings of seascapes, landscapes, and battle scenes by Antonio Marini.
The Picture Gallery also has a beautiful set of furniture made by London furniture maker James Pascall. The furniture's flower patterns were made using special needlework techniques. In 2021, a project used microscopes to look at the needlework up to 1,000 times closer, showing tiny details of the threads.
One of the most important collections is the Chippendale Society collection of Chippendale furniture. These pieces are on permanent loan to Temple Newsam. Mark Fisher, a former government minister, praised Temple Newsam House in his book "Britain's Best Museums and Galleries." He even said it was one of the top three non-national museums in the country.
Events at Temple Newsam
For many years, Party in the Park and Opera in the Park were big concerts held at Temple Newsam. They took place in July from 1994 to 2014, with tens of thousands of people attending.
An outdoor theatre area near the stables is sometimes used for plays. The fields north of the Home Farm are used for different events, like Steam Fairs and Dog Shows.
In August 1997 and 1998, the estate hosted the V Festival. From 1999, it became the northern location for the Reading and Leeds Festivals. However, the Leeds Festival moved to Bramham Park after 2002.
From 2009 to 2019, Sven Vath hosted Cocoon in the Park every July. In 2019, Temple Newsam also became the new home for Slam Dunk Festival. A new festival called Newsam Park also started in 2019.
Many other events happen at Temple Newsam, such as the Leeds Waggy Walk for Dogs Trust and Race for Life for Cancer Research UK. Since early 2013, there has been a weekly Parkrun event there.
In February 2024, Temple Newsam hosted the BUCS Cross Country Championships. Athletes from British Universities and Colleges competed in running races across Temple Newsam Park.
See also
- Grade I listed buildings in West Yorkshire
- Listed buildings in Leeds (Temple Newsam Ward)
- Chippendale Society
