Kirby Knowle Castle

The first castle on the site is believed to have been built in the late 12th century, by Roger Lascelles. The castle burned down in 1568. Its owner, John Constable, rebuilt it in the contemporary style, but he died before it was completed, and it fell into ruin.William Grainge, The Vale of Mowbray (London, 1859), p. 238. A survey of the site mentioned that Constable had founded a "mansion house of a great hight and length, passing beautiful of itself and fair of prospect, whereto belongs one goodly hall, great chamber, parlour, and bed chamber, with a number of other pleasant lodgings and chambers", including a study, a gallery, a chapel, with kitchen, bakehouse, and brew house.William Grainge, The Vale of Mowbray (London, 1859), p. 365.

File:Robert Peake the Elder Catherine Neville, Lady Constable.jpg]]

John Constable's wife Katherine, a daughter of Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland, died in 1590. Her will mentions Elizabethan luxuries, including a porcelain cup that guarded against poisoning, and a couch of cloth of gold which she bequeathed to Lord Ogle. She bequeathed a gold cross set with diamonds (which features in her portraits) to her daughter-in-law Margaret Dormer, Lady Constable. If she died "north of Trent" she wished to buried at Halsham next to her husband.William Greenwell, Durham Wills, 2 (Surtees Society, 1860), p. 6.Susan E. James, Women's Voices in Tudor Wills (Ashgate, 2015), pp. 23–24.

In February 1597, John Ferne searched the castle and captured the Catholic recusant Joseph Constable of Upsall and his companions Francis Wycliffe and Cuthbert Plusgrave.John Cedric Aveling, Northern Catholics: The Catholic Recusants of the North Riding of Yorkshire (Chapman, 1966), p. 141. Joseph was the stepson of Lady Katherine Constable.Michael Questier, "Practical Antipapistry during the Reign of Elizabeth I", Journal of British Studies, 36:4 (October 1997), p. 383. David Ingleby and Constable were said to be hopeful of a change in government and rode around Yorkshire like Robin Hood.Katharine M. Longley, "David Ingleby The Fox That Got Away", Northern Catholic Historic, 34 (1993), pp. 25–28. According to Ferne, the building had vaults and secret passages above and below ground. Joseph Constable was imprisoned at York Castle.HMC Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Marquess of Salisbury, 7 (London, 1899), pp. 105–106: Mary Anne Everett Green, Calendar State Papers Domestic, Elizabeth, 1595–1597 (London, 1869), p. 369. A small mural closet space at Kirby Knowle was shown as priest hole in the 19th-century.Michael Hodgetts & Paul Hodgetts, Secret Hiding Places: Priest Holes: An Incredible True Story of Faith and Ingenuity (Pear Branch Press, 2024), pp. 199–200.

The "New Building" or "New Bigging" of Kirby Knowle Castle was out of repair in 1652, and had been unoccupied by the Constable family since 1644.John William Clay, Royalist Composition Papers, 3 (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1896), p. 60. James Danby purchased the castle in 1654 (he had been a steward to John Constable). He repaired the building, adding a new south front and west wing.{{cite book |last1=Page |first1=William |title=A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 2 |date=1923 |publisher=Victoria County History |location=London |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp44-49 |access-date=26 February 2025}} Some 19th-century sources call Danby's work the "New Building" but this name was already in use."Memoir of Mr Justice Rokeby", Miscellanea (Surtess Society, 1861), pp. 6-7.

The house was restored in 1875, and it was grade II listed in 1952.{{NHLE |num= 1190919|desc= Kirby Knowle Castle, Kirby Knowle|access-date= 22 February 2025}} The building was again restored in the 2010s, leaving the property with seven bedrooms, a cinema, games room, gym and steam room. In 2024, it was put for sale for £6.95 million.{{cite news |last1=Armstrong |first1=Kathryn |title=Inside the Grade II listed Kirby Knowle near Thirsk |url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/yorkshire/24200506.inside-grade-ii-listed-kirby-knowle-near-thirsk/ |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Great British Life |date=16 April 2024}}

The country house is built of stone with Welsh slate roofs. The main block has three storeys and four bays, to the right is a two-storey canted bay, then two bays extending to the north and a further block. In the angle is a five-stage tower, and to the left is a further two-storey three-bay range. The main block has a chamfered plinth, mullioned and transomed windows with hood moulds, a panelled parapet with semicircular battlements and obelisk corner finials. Elsewhere, there are cross windows, and the canted bay has an openwork parapet and a conical roof.{{cite book| last1 =Grenville| first1 =Jane| last2 = Pevsner | first2 = Nikolaus | author2-link = Nikolaus Pevsner | series= The Buildings of England| title =Yorkshire: The North Riding| publisher =Yale University Press | year =2023 | orig-year=1966 |location =New Haven and London | isbn =978-0-300-25903-2 }}

• Listed buildings in Kirby Knowle

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Category:Castles in North Yorkshire

Category:Country houses in North Yorkshire

Category:Grade II listed buildings in North Yorkshire

Category:Houses completed in 1654