Burton Agnes Hall

Burton Agnes Hall stands in the village of Burton Agnes near Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It is an Elizabethan manor house built between 1601 and 1610 by Sir Henry Griffith to designs attributed to Robert Smythson. The older Norman manor house from 1173 still stands nearby and both buildings are Grade I listed. The plan shows a square block with an internal courtyard and a long gallery on the second floor. The entrance facade features many windows and shaped projecting bays, creating variety in the skyline. The main rooms vary in size due to the bay windows, and the interior retains much 17th-century fittings. The house is worth the journey for its rich architectural history and surviving features. The Long Gallery has a wagon-roofed ceiling with richly plastered details, restored in stages by Francis Johnson between 1951 and 1974. An alabaster overmantel in the great chamber depicts the parable of the Ten Virgins, based on a work by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The estate has belonged to the same family since 1173, passing through generations of the Griffith and Boynton families. According to legend, the skull of Sir Henry’s youngest daughter Anne is bricked up in the Great Hall as a screaming skull. A visitor finds the Elizabethan hall and the remains of the old manor house open to the public. The gardens contain 3,000 plant species, including the National Collection of Campanulas, with games arranged in separate garden areas. A woodland walk is known for snowdrop blooms in February. The gatehouse, built around 1610, features a round-arched carriage entrance with carved details and octagonal turrets. Nearby, the treadmill and bakery from around 1600 have surviving structures with brick walls and a restored treadmill wheel. The former stables, completed in 1859, form a U-shaped brick building with a gabled central range.