BY CHARLES EVANS

A London architect must have conceived this very remarkable house built by Sir Henry Griffith in 1600-10, for it has little in common with other Yorkshire houses, but is one of the most mature of late Elizabethan designs.

Burton Agnes Hall is located in Driffield, Yorkshire.

Approached through a gatehouse with four domed turrets, the front is a symmetrical composition contained by gabled wings with bow windows, between which project turrets, one containing the porch. Within, the decoration is lavish.

The Elizabethan staircase has no less than eight newels, coupled into pairs with arches and their surfaces covered with carving, which, with the balustrades, build up a composition of extraordinary intricacy.

In 1977 Mr. Marcus Wickham-Boynton handed Burton Agnes Hall and gardens to a charitable trust formed for its protection and future upkeep. Under this arrangement, it was hoped that future generations of the Boynton family would continue to live in it and it would therefore remain a ‘lived-in’ family home.

Today, under the charitable trust and guardianship of the Cunliffe-Lister family Burton Agnes Hall can be enjoyed by the public and its beauty and integrity maintained and preserved for future generations.