Gilling Castle

It was Thomas de Etton who built the fortified manor house in the 14th century – a large tower almost square, whose basement still forms the core of the present building.

In 1349 his father had settled the manor of Gilling on his wife's family, the Fairfaxes, in the event of the failure of the Ettons to produce a male heir.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the owner, now Viscount Fairfax of Emley, remodelled much of the interior of the house and added the wings enclosing the front (west) court.

[4] On the death of Mrs Barnes (Lavinia Fairfax) in 1885, this branch of the family became extinct and the castle, after passing through several hands, was bought by Ampleforth Abbey in 1929.

[5] Grade II listed components include the former clock tower, stables and stone gate piers.

[6] In 2022, the entire property was listed for sale by the Ampleforth Abbey trustees; by that time, the castle had been vacant for four years.

Sir William was keenly interested to demonstrate in heraldry his connections in Yorkshire, and he used it to decorate the newly built room, to such an extent that in the 1590s, inventories show, there was a book to which visitors could refer in order to identify the arms in plaster, paint and glass.

The chimney breast above the fireplace has four coats of arms - of Sir William's four sisters and their husbands (Bellasis, Curwen, Vavasour, and Roos, each impaling Fairfax).

[11] Panelling from the Long Gallery, which had a ceiling by the stuccoist Giuseppe Cortese, was salvaged and sent to the Bowes Museum where components of it are permanently displayed.