Aske Hall

It contains an impressive collection of 18th-century furniture, paintings and porcelain, and in its grounds a John Carr stable block converted into a chapel in Victorian times with Italianate decor, a Gothic-style folly built by Daniel Garrett circa 1745, coach house with carriage, Victorian stable block, walled garden, terraced garden and lake with a Roman-style temple.

[1] It is a place of some antiquity, and long the de Aske family residence, but at first consisted merely of a square tower surrounded by bare and swampy fields.

Aske Hall's history has been well documented, notably in Richmond Architecture and in a two-part article by Giles Worsley published in Country Life in March 1990.

This survey shows that Darcy "swept away the complex roofing [except the towers], removed the porch and the projecting blocks in the corners of the wings and completely refenestrated the house".

Darcy also remodelled Aske's somewhat swampy setting, creating the lake, the temple [1740 by Daniel Garrett] and a large "Gothick" garden building to the north of the Hall.

The Dundas Papers also record that Carr demolished the rear section of the dwelling while leaving the hall range and wings intact.

Aske Hall circa 1880
January 2009
Former stable block