Built / Designed For: William Calverley

House & Family History: In April of 1605 Walter Calverley, in a drunken rage, murdered two of his sons, William and Walter, at Calverley Old Hall. Walter senior was tried for murder in York and pressed to death. This gruesome story inspired two early 17th century plays: the 1607 "The Miseries of Enforced Marriage" by George Wilkins and 1608's "A Yorkshire Tragedy," once attributed to William Shakespeare but today believed to have been written by Thomas Middleton. In 1981 the Landmark Trust purchased the property and converted parts of the house into holiday accommodation. In 2021 the trust discovered exceptional 16th century wall paintings on three walls of a bedroom at Calverley Old Hall when they removed old plasterwork. The artwork, probably made during the reign of Elizabeth I, is one of the most sophisticated examples of Tudor wall painting known to survive. The design, which features birds, griffins, and men sitting on vases, was based on the interiors of Nero's famous Domus Aurea, more commonly called the Golden House (see "Images" section). The fact that interiors in faraway Yorkshire were based on a Roman palace built in the 1st century AD is a testament to the sophistication of the design, and it shows how much in the vanguard the design was, as the emperor’s Golden House was only rediscovered in the 1480s, less than 100 years before Calverley’s wall paintings were created.

House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Not Listed

Past Seat / Home of: William Calverley, 15th century; Walter Calverley, until 1605; Sir Walter Calverley, 1st Bt., 18th century; Calverley family here until 1709. Thornhill family, 18th century.

Current Ownership Type: The Landmark Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Holiday Rental

House Open to Public: By Appointment

Phone: 01628-825-925

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/

Historic Houses Member: No