Lumley Castle

Earlier Houses: Parts of an earlier dwelling are incorporated into the current castle.

House & Family History: Lumley Castle was built by Sir Ralph de Lumley, who obtained permission from King Richard II to convert the existing manor house built by his father or grandfather in the mid-14th century into a castle. Though the castle was not lived in at the time, in 1807 virtually all the contents were sold because of the family's compromised financial position. At the beginning of the 20th century Frederica, Countess of Scarborough, lived in Lumley and made it her mission to reassemble as many of the former castle furnishings as possible. In 1972 the Lumley family let the castle to a hotel group; it remains a luxury hotel today.

Collections: Housed in Lumley Castle and Nonsuch Palace, the Lumley Collection was the largest art collection in Elizabethan England (it included almost 300 paintings, including portraits of 196 contemporary sitters). Created by John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley (of the third creation), through purchase and commission, the core of the collection was inherited by Lord Lumley from his father-in-law, the 12th Earl of Arundel (from whom he also inherited Nonsuch Palace) and included pictures from the collection of Elizabeth I’s favorite, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Lord Lumley was unusually cultured for his time. Before such a thing as the Grand Tour existed, he traveled in Italy and spent significant time in Florence in the 1560s. Lord Lumley was also the uncle of Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel (“the Collector Earl”), possibly 17th century England’s most important collector. Lord Arundel inherited some of Lumley’s collection of paintings, including the famous portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger of Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan (today in the National Gallery, London; see “Images” section). However, a significant portion of the collection remained at Lumley Castle, where it was eventually inherited by the earls of Scarbrough and sold in sales in 1785 and 1807. All of this was documented in “The Lumley Inventory,” also called “The Lumley Inventory and Pedigree” and “The Red Velvet Book” (from its binding), called by Sir Roy Strong “…the most important single document for the history of painting, sculpture, and furniture in the Elizabethan age.” Compiled for Lord Lumley circa 1586-95 by his steward, John Lampton, the illustrated manuscript documents Lumley’s enormous collection of paintings, sculpture, silver, furniture, and books, and also includes a heraldic and genealogical history of the Lumley family that traces their ancestry back through Charlemagne to Adam. The inventory also includes illustrations of garden fountains and outdoor sculpture at Nonsuch Palace, including the Pelican Fountain, today at Sandbeck Park. Now owned by the earls of Scarbrough, the inventory is on long term loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum. In 2010 the Roxburghe Club privately printed a reproduction of “The Red Velvet Book,” 250 copies of which were made available for sale from the London rare book and manuscript dealer Maggs Bros.

Architect: John Vanbrugh

Date of Birth: 1664
Date of Death: 1726
Nationality: English
Notes: Famous today as a soldier, playwright, and one of England's greatest architects, John Vanbrugh was born in London in 1664, the 4th of 19 children. His father, Giles Vanbrugh, was the son of Giles van Brugg, a Haarlem merchant who fled Flanders as a Protestant refugee. John's mother, Elizabeth, was the youngest daughter of Sir Dudley Carleton of Ember Court, Surrey. In his early years John worked in the wine trade for his cousin, William Matthews. Between 1683 and 1685 he served in the East India Company, trading at Surat on the west coast of India. In January of 1686 he was commissioned in the regiment of foot commanded by the Earl of Huntingdon. In September 1688 Vanbrugh was arrested in France as a spy and imprisoned in the Bastille. After his release he set himself upon the path of becoming a playwright. With astonishing speed, Vanbrugh became a huge success in London; his 1697 play "The Provok'd Wife" is probably the most popular and enduring of his plays. In 1704 he built his own theater - the Queen's Theatre (aka Italian Opera House) in Haymarket, London. Nobody knows when he turned his talents to architecture; what is certain is that in 1699 he famously created designs for Castle Howard for his friend, and fellow Kit-Cat Club member, the Earl of Carlisle. Vanbrugh displaced the famously difficult William Talman as Lord Carlisle's architect for Castle Howard (the Earl felt Talman had overcharged him). Talman wasn't just the Earl of Carlisle's architect - he was also the Comptroller of His Majesty's Works. In his role as First Lord of the Treasury Lord Carlisle wielded enormous power in the Office of the King's Works; it was thus not surprising that in June of 1702 Vanbrugh replaced Talman as Comptroller, and, over the next few years, also took over Talman's place as chief architect to the Whig aristocracy. The best summation of his career as an architect comes from Howard Colvin, writing in "A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600 - 1840": "It was a style that had no exact parallel in the history of European architecture, though it drew on French, English and Italian sources. Its character was baroque in the sense that it aimed at effects of movement,' but it achieved them by the grouping of masses and skilful handling of recession and projection rather than by the mere manipulation of the conventional apparatus of classical architecture. In achieving these effects Vanbrugh drew inspiration from the medieval and Elizabethan past as well as from the English baroque of Talman and Wren." Colvin goes on to say that the design of Vanbrugh's great houses shows a strong sense of the picturesque and that he must also be regarded as a pioneer of the Picturesque landscape movement. In 1704 Vanbrugh was appointed a herald and created Clarenceux King of Arms; on September 19, 1714 he was knighted by King George I. Though Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace are his most famous works, many architectural historians consider Seaton Delaval Hall to be Vanbrugh's masterpiece; Grimsthorpe Castle was his last important work. During Vanbrugh's last years British architecture came strongly under the influence of the Palladian style espoused by Lord Burlington. So complete was this new Palladian juggernaut that it completely eclipsed Vanbrugh's highly individual Baroque style, leaving him out of style and forgotten by the time of his death in 1726. The most famous portrait of Vanbrugh is the Kneller painting of him as a member of the Kit-Cat Club, executed when he was around 40 (in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London). The largest collection of Vanbrugh's drawings is in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Date: 1722
Designed: Remodeled Entrance Front and altered Great Hall for 2nd Earl of Scarborough

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John Bernard (J.B.) Burke, published under the title of A Visitation of the Seats and Arms of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, among other titles: 2.S. Vol. I, p. 163, 1854.

John Preston (J.P.) Neale, published under the title of Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, among other titles: Vol. I, 1818.

Country Life: XXVII, 896 plan, 1910.

Title: Treasure Houses of Britain, The - SOFTBACK
Author: Jackson-Stops, Gervase (Editor)
Year Published: 1985
Reference: pg. 412
Publisher: Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art (New Haven: Yale University Press)
ISBN: 0300035530
Book Type: Softback

Title: Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, A - SOFTBACK
Author: Colvin, Howard
Year Published: 1995
Reference: pg. 1008
Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300072074
Book Type: Softback

House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Grade II

Past Seat / Home of: Sir Ralph de Lumley (Lumley), 1st Baron Lumley (first creation), 1390-1400; John Lumley, 1400-21; Thomas Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley (second creation), 1421-85; George Lumley, 2nd Baron Lumley, 1485-1507; Richard Lumley, 3rd Baron Lumley, 1507-10; John Lumley, 4th Baron Lumley, 1510-45; John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley (third creation), until 1609; Richard Lumley, 1st Viscount Lumley, 1609-63; Richard Lumley, 2nd Viscount Lumley and 1st Earl of Scarbrough, 1663-1721; Richard Lumley, 2nd Earl of Scarbrough, 1721-39; Thomas Lumley-Saunderson, 3rd Earl of Scarbrough, 1739-52; Richard Lumley-Saunderson, 4th Earl of Scarbrough, 1752-82; George Augustus Lumley-Saunderson, 5th Earl of Scarbrough, 1782-1807; Richard Lumley-Saunderson, 6th Earl of Scarbrough, 1807-32; John Lumley-Savile, 7th Earl of Scarbrough, 1832-35; John Lumley-Savile, 8th Earl of Scarbrough, 1835-56; Richard George Lumley, 9th Earl of Scarbrough, 1856-84; Frederica, Countess of Scarborough, 1884-1907; Aldred Frederick George Beresford Lumley, 10th Earl of Scarbrough, 1907-45; Lawrence Roger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough, 1945-69.

Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Hotel

Ownership Details: Owned by the Lumley family and let to Lumley Castle Ltd., who operate it as a hotel.

House Open to Public: By Appointment

Phone: 01913-891-111

Fax: 01913-895-871

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.lumleycastle.com/

Historic Houses Member: No

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