Markenfield Hall
The magnificent, moated, Markenfield Hall (Grade I listed) is near Ripon in North Yorkshire. Markenfield is first mentioned as a manor in Domesday. By 1150 it had been acquired by the le Bret family, who gradually changed their name to that of deMarkenfield. Throughout, its house was closely linked to the fortunes of the nearby Fountains Abbey, founded in 1132.
Following a major campaign of restoration in 1985, it remains a family home, opened to visitors by Lady Deirdre and Ian Curteis. Today, the house consists of a moated courtyard, entered through a later sixteenth-century gateway and consisting of an L-shaped block in the north-east angle of the courtyard containing a series of ground floor chambers, and principal rooms at first floor Hall, including a Hall, paired lodgings, chapel, and south chamber. It is flanked by two ranges.
Theatre and Heritage visited with the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain in September 2017. An absolutely fascinating building, of the type that benefits a Recording Report.
