Grantley Hall

Grantley Hall is an English country house located in North Yorkshire, England, in use as a hotel.

In 2006 the property was sold to a private purchaser for residential use and planning permission was granted for conversion of the building into a 50 bedroom hotel.

Thomas was the son of the famous social reformer and author Caroline Norton about whom many books have been written.

Thomas died only two years after he inherited the property at the age of 47 and his son John Richard Brindsley Norton became the owner in 1877.

In 1879 he caused a public sensation by marrying Katherine the wife of his cousin after being named as co-respondent in a divorce case.

In it he records his memoirs and describes Grantley Hall as "a gargantuan edifice with sixty bedrooms, on the edge of sixteen thousand acres of wild moorland.

"[13] He describes his father John as "as a huge man — he was well over six feet — with blue eyes, a heavy moustache, and wavy hair which kept its wave and its thickness long after, in later life, it went white."

Christopher went into the family business but later began to buy boats and started his own shipping line which was extremely successful.

In 1905 a reporter from the magazine The Car Illustrated visited the house and described the estate in detail in a feature article.

The mansion is stone built, and charmingly situate on the River Skell, which is widened into a series of lakes skirting the drive through the park, which with its pleasure grounds covers about forty seven acres.

The entrance hall on the east front of the mansion opens to a corridor forming a picture gallery, through which a passage issues north and south, giving access to the principal reception rooms.

[2] The garden features two ponds linked by a stream with large, irregular stepping stones as well as a diverse variety of trees, mosses, ferns and bamboo.

When Christopher died in 1912 his son Marmaduke inherited the house but Lady Jane retained a life interest in the property.

In 1926 Marmaduke married Thelma Morgan, the famous woman who was reputed to be the mistress of Prince Edward.

An air of immense well-being characterises the extensive grounds which surround Grantley Hall, the home of Sir William Aykroyd.

The timber is well cared for; the lawns smooth, level, unmarred by weeds; the rock garden is full of rare and beautiful plants and even the Golden Orfe in its pools have an exceptionally sleek and prosperous look.

A hospital supply depot was formed in the Cathedral Hall in Ripon and Lady Aykroyd was the chairman.

The current owner bought the house in 2015 and opened Grantley Hall as a "luxury hotel and wellness retreat" in July 2019.