Most unusually, both John and William embraced new garden fashions by extending their designed landscape rather than replacing and remaking outmoded parts.

[4] The park was formed through the aggregation of the former land-holdings of Fountains Abbey, which were purchased by the Gresham family after the Dissolution, and the estate of Studley Royal.

[5] Whilst the prehistoric origins of the land upon which Studley Royal Park now stands are under-researched, there is evidence for settlement in the area.

[3]: 6-7 Documentary sources and place-name evidence, rather than archaeological excavation, provide insight into the early medieval period in the area.

[3]: 24 After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 by Henry VIII, the Abbey buildings and over 40% of the former monastic estate was sold by the Crown to Sir Richard Gresham, a merchant.

This was done through a programme of demolition and sale of goods, which included the stripping of lead from the buildings, the removal of glass and Nidderdale 'marble' from the church.

Paying off the fine was attempted by selling off his wife's family estate, as well as other property, including a mill at Galphay and a farm at Nunwick.

However, in 1667, William died aged nineteen and the estate passed to his sisters: the eldest Mary, who was married to George Aislabie, as well as Jane and Elizabeth.

Trustees to the estate were appointed until the heir, Mallorie Aislabie, came of age: William Robinson, husband of the eldest daughter Mary and Arthur Ingram.

This included the construction of a boundary wall along the western side of the valley between the Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal estates.

Flooding subsequently damaged these early developments, and by 1726 approximately 100 men were working to create water features, which included canals and ponds.

The planting at this time was perhaps sparser than that of the estate in the early twenty-first century: eighteenth-century visitors reported seeing bare rock between the trees.

[3]: 124  The late 1730s also saw a revision of the statuary scheme in the gardens, which included the introduction of a statue of Neptune, centrally located in the Moon Pond.

William also added new architectural features to the park: an obelisk at the western end of the main avenue and the Belvedere, which was a Gothic garden room.

It also included construction: the Gazebo was built under the east Window, which provided visitors with an elevated view of the nave.

[3]: 234–235  However, although she appointed Christopher Hall as agent, during her ownership, and her lack of presence at the estate, many areas of the designed landscape became neglected.

[11] Under her ownership, she made further additions to the grounds, which included the stone Obelisk, as well as Robin Hood's Well, which enclosed a small spring.

[3]: 297  During his ownership of the estate, three structures were added: Studley tea room, an oval island in the lake, and the High Seat in the west of the gardens.

[3]: 300  In 1886 a pageant was held on the estate, celebrating Ripon's millennium; a similar event was repeated in 1896 for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

[12] The Settlers Society ended at the outbreak of the Second World War, but its accommodation was repurposed to house German and Polish refugees.

[3]: 327–329 English Heritage is responsible for the conservation of the abbey under a guardianship agreement, but managed on a day-to-day basis by the National Trust.

Most unusually both John and William embraced new garden fashions by extending their designed landscape rather than replacing and remaking outmoded parts.

The garden's elegant ornamental lakes, canals, temples and cascades provide a succession of dramatic eye-catching vistas.

It has been suggested that the construction of this place of worship was prompted by the death of Frederick Grantham Vyner, who was kidnapped and killed in Greece in 1870.

[15][25] Burges' appointment as architect was most likely due to the connection between his greatest patron, John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute and Vyner, who had been friends at Oxford.

Likely designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, the view from the tower extended across the Studley estates, and York could even be seen twenty-six miles away.

[3]: 286–289 It was altered and developed by the 1st Marquess of Ripon, who created a new entrance hall, a royal suite, and the reorganisation of the domestic service areas.

Instead, the splendid Georgian stable block, built for John Aislabie’s racehorses between 1728 and 1732, was converted into an elegant Palladian country house set in 2½ acres of private formal gardens on high ground overlooking the deer park towards Ripon Cathedral in the distance.

[3]: 109–110 The building was constructed based on a sketch by Andrea Palladio owned by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, and was initially known as the Temple of Hercules.

They compromise two small lodges with classical pediments either side of a central arch, constructed from rough, undressed stone, with Venetian windows.