Heslington Hall

Heslington Hall is a grade II* listed rebuilt manor house near the village of Heslington, North Yorkshire, England, within the city of York. The hall is located on the campus of the University of York.The present Victorian building comprises a central nine bay two-storey block with attics and two two-storey wings at each end. It is built of brick in English bond with sandstone ashlar dressings.HistoryThe original Manor house was constructed in 1568 for Sir Thomas Eynns, the Secretary and Keeper of the Seal to the Council of the North; and his wife Elizabeth. Eynns died in 1573 and the estate were sold in 1601 by his nephews to the Hesketh family. On the death of Thomas Hesketh in 1708, the Hall passed by marriage to the Yarburgh family, who lived in it for several generations. In 1719 Henrietta Yarburgh, 26, married playwright Sir John Vanbrugh at St. Lawrence Parish Church (then the parish church of half of Heslington, including the Hall). The tombs of several members of the Hesketh and Yarburgh families can be seen in the churchyard of St Lawrence. Major Nicholas Yarburgh, who lived at the hall from 1825 to 1852 and was High Sheriff of Yorkshire for 1836, won the St Leger Stakes in 1839 with his horse Charles the Twelfth - one of the local pubs was subsequently named after him.