Summary

A Grade I listed English Baroque country house in Henderskelfe, North Yorkshire, 15 miles north of York; designed by John Vanbrugh with Nicholas Hawksmoor and commissioned by Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle; construction began 1699 and was completed in 1811; featuring a central dome reconstructed in 1960 to 1961 following a 1940 fire, a Palladian west wing by Sir Thomas Robinson, and gardens Grade I listed on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens including the Temple of the Four Winds and Hawksmoor’s Mausoleum; privately owned by Castle Howard Estate Limited (Howard family); used as a filming location for Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975), Brideshead Revisited (ITV, 1981 and film 2008), Victoria (ITV, 2016), Bridgerton (Netflix, 2020), and numerous other productions.

About this location

Castle Howard stands in Henderskelfe in North Yorkshire, approximately 15 miles north of York. The estate came to the Howard family in 1577 when Lord William Howard, third son of the 4th Duke of Norfolk, married Elizabeth Dacre and inherited the Henderskelfe lands. Castle Howard itself was commissioned by the 3rd Earl of Carlisle, a male-line descendant of Lord William Howard. The earl first approached William Talman, then the leading English country house architect, but commissioned instead John Vanbrugh — primarily known as a playwright and a fellow member of the Kit-Cat Club — who was assisted by Nicholas Hawksmoor.

Design work began in 1699. Vanbrugh’s Baroque design features two wings projecting to either side of a central north-south axis, with a dome added at a late stage rising over the great hall. The east end and central block were largely complete by 1706; the west end of the garden front by 1709. Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini decorated many of the principal interiors. The 3rd Earl died in 1738 before the house was finished; his son the 4th Earl commissioned Sir Thomas Robinson to complete the west wing, which was built in a contrasting Palladian style that was not completed until 1811 under Charles Heathcote Tatham.

On 9 November 1940, fire destroyed the dome, the central hall, the dining room, and the east-side staterooms. Pellegrini’s ceiling painting The Fall of Phaeton was lost when the dome collapsed. The dome was rebuilt in 1960 to 1961 and Pellegrini’s composition recreated by Canadian artist Scott Medd. The east wing remains a shell, though re-roofed.

The gardens and surrounding park are Grade I listed on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Major features include a large formal parterre to the south of the house; the Temple of the Four Winds (designed by Vanbrugh) at the end of the garden; the Mausoleum (by Hawksmoor, considered one of his masterpieces) in the park; two lakes flanking the house; Ray Wood to the east; and a walled garden with decorative rose and flower gardens. The Yorkshire Arboretum, covering 127 acres, operates independently on the estate.

Castle Howard has been used as a filming location over several decades. Barry Lyndon (Warner Bros., 1975, directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Ryan O’Neal as Redmond Barry, an adaptation of Thackeray’s novel) used the house and as a major setting. Brideshead Revisited (Granada Television, ITV, 1981, produced by Derek Granger, starring Jeremy Irons as Charles Ryder and Anthony Andrews as Sebastian Flyte, an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel) filmed principally at Castle Howard as Brideshead Castle, making it one of the most celebrated television location shoots in British history. Brideshead Revisited (Miramax/Film4, 2008, directed by Julian Jarrold, starring Matthew Goode and Ben Whishaw) returned to Castle Howard for the same role. The Buccaneers (BBC/WGBH, 1995, written by Maggie Wadey from Edith Wharton’s unfinished novel) filmed at the castle. Death Comes to Pemberley (BBC One, 2013, adapted from P.D. James’s novel, starring Matthew Rhys as Darcy and Anna Maxwell Martin as Elizabeth) used Castle Howard as Pemberley. Victoria (ITV, 2016 onwards, created by Daisy Goodwin, starring Jenna Coleman as Queen Victoria) filmed at the castle. Bridgerton (Netflix/Shondaland, 2020 onwards) included Castle Howard as a location.