Studley Royal Park

Studley Royal Park is an estate in North Yorkshire, England. The site has an area of 800 acres (323 ha) and includes an 18th-century landscaped garden; the ruins of Fountains Abbey; Fountains Hall, a Jacobean mansion; and the Victorian St Mary's church, designed by William Burges. Studley Royal House, around which the park and gardens were designed, burned down in 1946. The park, as Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey, has been designated a World Heritage Site. It has also been designated a grade I listed park and garden by Historic England, and various structures within it are individually listed. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Fountains estate was owned by the Gresham, Proctor, and Messenger families. At the same time, the adjacent Studley estate was separately held by the Mallorie (or Mallory) and then Aislabie families, after the marriage of Mary Mallory and George Aislabie. The estates were combined on 22 December 1767, when William Aislabie purchased the Fountains estate from John Messenger. In 1966, the property came into public ownership after its purchase by West Riding County Council. In 1983, it was acquired by the National Trust. The gardens and park reflect every stage in the evolution of English garden fashion, from the late 17th century to the 1780s and beyond. Most unusually, both John and William embraced new garden fashions by extending their designed landscape rather than replacing and remaking outmoded parts. As a result, the cumulative whole is a catalogue of significant landscaping styles.

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Octagon Tower

The Octagon Tower is a historic structure at Studley Royal, a World Heritage Site in North Yorkshire, in England. The tower was built between 1728 and 1732, probably as a viewing platform. It was commissioned by John Aislabie, and designed by Robert Doe, probably in the neoclassical style. In the 1740s, its appearance was altered to the gothic style, and it may have been at this time that the external steps were added. The building was grade II* listed in 1967, but was ruinous at the time. In 1976, it was restored by North Yorkshire County Council, replacing about 40% of the stonework, all the windows and plaster. It is also a scheduled monument. The tower is built of stone, it has an octagonal plan, and three stages on a deep plinth. The entrance on the east side is approached by eight steps flanked by outward curving walls with pointed coping and piers with ball finials. The doors have a porch with buttresses containing arched niches. In the bottom stage are round-arched sash windows with moulded hood moulds, and the middle stage contains recesses with pointed arches. In the top stage are quatrefoil openings, above which is a parapet and crocketed finials.

Choristers' House

Choristers' House, also known as The Cottage or Church Cottage, is a historic building on the Studley Royal World Heritage Site in North Yorkshire, in England. The house was designed by William Burges, and was constructed in 1873, with funding from George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon. It was associated with Burges' St Mary's Church, Studley Royal, and Robinson originally intended for it to house a music school or choir, the church organist, and its music master. However, it appears that it served as a parsonage. It was extended between 1909 and 1930, and was grade II* listed, along with its wall and gate, in 1986. It has more recently served as holiday accommodation. The house is built of gritstone, and has a red tile roof with crested ridge tiles, a lead pinnacle and a finial. It has two storeys and three bays. On the front, the middle bay is recessed, and contains a portico with two chamfered slightly pointed arches, over which are carved shields and a badge, and two dormers with curved bargeboards. The left bay is gabled, and contains a four-light mullioned and transomed window and a three-light mullioned window above. The right bay projects and is canted; the upper floor is timber framed. At the rear, on the left, is a large timber framed gable approached by external stone steps, and to the right is a two-storey tower with a pyramidal roof. The front wall has chamfered coping, and it contains a gateway with three steps.

St Mary's, Studley Royal

The Church of St Mary, Studley Royal, is a Victorian Gothic Revival church built in the Early English style by William Burges. It is located in the grounds of Studley Royal Park at Fountains Abbey, in North Yorkshire, England. Burges was commissioned by the 1st Marquess of Ripon to build the church as a memorial church to Frederick Grantham Vyner, his brother-in-law. It is one of two such churches, the other being the Church of Christ the Consoler at Skelton-on-Ure.

Anne Boleyn's Seat

Anne Boleyn's Seat is a historic structure at Studley Royal, a World Heritage Site in North Yorkshire, in England. The shelter, containing a seat, is at a high point in the garden, known as "Surprise View". The National Trust describes it as "the climax of the garden". The structure was commissioned by William Aislabie and was probably complete by 1790; it was initially described as a "sashed Gothic temple". A headless statue was erected nearby, and it is believed that this led to the structure being named after Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded. The structure provides a view of the ruins of Fountains Abbey, and its name may also reference the role of Henry VIII of England, Boleyn's husband, in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The shelter is built of wood. On the west front are three slender Gothick arches on quatrefoil columns, and an elaborate embattled parapet. At the rear is a narrow entrance and a similar parapet, and the side walls are blank. The floor is concrete, and there are two modern benches. It has been grade II listed since 1986.