Introduction to Kiplin Hall's Architectural and Landscape History

“The attraction of English stately homes is more than just one of architectural appreciation. They mirror the same variety of form that endears the countryside to us, with no one house being the same as the next.”
Trevor Yorke, The Country House Explained

Kiplin Hall, located near Scorton in England’s beautiful North Yorkshire, was built around 1625 by the First Lord Baltimore, George Calvert. Kiplin Hall was built in the Jacobean style (Jacobean refers to King James I of England) and originally was a symmetrical box design featuring two towers on each side of the house. Jacobean styles, along with the preceding Elizabethan style, were influenced by the Renaissance. Built of brick and some stone, Kiplin’s original exterior was very grand for its time and location in the 17th century.

Above: Parts of the original brick diapering are evident on Kiplin Hall's facade today. Diapering is a diagonal pattern of dark bricks formed into a diamond pattern within an overall English or Flemish brick bond.

Typical details of Jacobean Homes are the use of a central hall, symmetrical outward appearance and a long hall. Kiplin originally contained all three. Presently, the long hall is the only detail that remains spatially unaltered with the exeception to paint and decor.
As with most historical homes, changing ownership has left its mark externally and internally. During the 18th century the house was altered to accomodate more residential needs. George Calvert had never lived at Kiplin—preferring to use it as a hunting box and local showcase instead. A central staicase was added during the 18th century and the renovations took out the south tower staircase, but left the north tower’s stairs for use by servants. Kiplin’s landscape was also changed by added acreage and the creation of a serpentine lake that wound in front of the west facade. During this period, the road that ran in front of the east facade was altered to wind its way around the estate and allowed the current owners a chance to build the estate wall that now remains (albeit altered materially in places). The 1818 total acreage for Kiplin Hall was at 4500 acres.
Parkland lime trees that once lined a grand drive to Kiplin Hall's main entrance.

During the 19th century a Gothic style sitting room was added to the south area of the house—completely demolishing the remnants of the south tower. Updated service buildings were added and by 1890, an extensive servant’s wing was built. During this time the Gothic sitting room was made more architecturally fashionable and turned into a library. The formal gardens were added, complete with a sunken tennis court and avenue of limes (not the citrus limes). During World War II, the serpentine lake was stopped. By the late 20th century, the Victorian era service wing was mostly demolished. However, remnants of the Victorian servants wing are still evident in the “shadows” of the torn down buildings on the existing exterior walls of the Warden’s cottage. A lake was added along the west facade and filled in the land where it had been quarried for gravel (seen at right). Currently, the estate retains only around 150 acres of its original lands.
Conservation of landscape and buildings is a key issue in places such as Kiplin where funds are always needed for proper upkeep and maintenance of objects. Kiplin underwent a ‘restoration’ in the late 1970s to 1990s that served as a means to stabalize the house and control temperatures and pests. Kiplin Hall now serves as a house museum and is open to the public for tours. The gardens and surrounding parkland are also available to the public.
-Haley Grant

For further reading:
Watkin, David. English Architecture: A Concise History. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
Webster, Dawn with the Kiplin Hall Trust. Kiplin Hall. Spain: Graficas Santamaria, 2005.
Yorke, Trevor. The Country House Explained. Newbury, England: Countryside Books, 2005.

Easby Abbey: A Historical Perspective on Salvage

The ruins of Easby Abbey, an English Heritage managed property in North Yorkshire, are what is left of a Premonstratensian abbey built in the 12th Century. The grounds contain the remnants of the refectory, cloister, kitchens and outbuildings of a typical medieval religious site. It once supported 18 canons who administered communion and supplies to the surrounding "wilderness" of Northern England, although the abbey did have a reciprocal relationship with its hinterlands, as Kiplin Hall was one of the abbey's granges and supplied Easby with foodstuff and income.





The abbey's setting remains virtually unscathed- lambs graze in verdant fields, a footpath that once brought beggars, visitors and pilgrims now hosts day trippers, and the River Swale continues in its meandering course below the abbey. The abbey itself has fared far worse. King Henry VIII dissolved it in 1536, and the buildings and land were sold to a local aristocrat, Sir Henry Scrope, who then allowed the abbey to be used as a virtual stone quarry over the seceding generations. Much of the village of Easby was constructed from the abbey's salvaged stone. The finest stone was long stripped from the facade, and the walls' rubble fill is what is most visible today (see image at left). The most prized pieces of furnishings and decoration were rescued from destruction, including intricately carved choir stalls that are now within St. Mary's Church in Richmond.



To distill the story of the rise and fall of the abbey into more modern parlance, a building that once served as the heart-center of a growing community was eventually seen as obsolete and
"became redundant," to adopt British terminology. The very materials whose sum parts produced a home for generations and served as a potent symbol for the spread of "civilization" into the medieval "wilderness" were removed to be used for seemingly more useful purposes. The abbey no longer was legally, socially or economically viable, thus its parts were dispersed across the countryside to fit a contemporary need, and its best pieces were hauled off to more important population centers.

Does this sound at all familiar to how old buildings are treated in some places today? Consider the derelict barns that form the quintessence of the American rural landscape. These venerable structures were the focal points of rural life and community. And now they are mostly obsolete. Their finest bits are hauled to antique stores while their patinaed wood is salvaged and used as flooring for chic kitchens and cabinetry for eco-conscious homes.

As seen in the examples of Easby Abbey and deconstructed structures in the US today, salvage is an historical pursuit, and it does have many benefits. However, in our eagerness to demolish and dismantle our built heritage when its function appears to have been eclipsed, we may be destroying what those in the future see as awe-inspiring architecture of distinctive vernacular structures. We need to reconsider the long term impacts of expedient decisions when we mine our built environment for currently desirable materials, and, in the process, turn historic structures into skeletons (as in the case of Easby) of their once proud selves.

When deciding the fate of a redundant building, consider rehabilitating the structure first, explore options for moving the building if retrofitting is not an option, and only finally consider salvaging the structures' materials. This way we can conserve our built and ecological environments.

Welcome to Kiplin

Bravely facing volcanic explosions and airline crew strikes, everyone has finally made it across the ocean and safely arrived at Kiplin Hall, our home for the next three weeks. After settling in to the feeling that we’ve all just walked into a Jane Austen novel, complete with the evening stroll around the lake, it is time to get down to business.

For 20 years Connie Schulz has been leading students from the University of South Carolina to Kiplin Hall in North Yorkshire to participate in the England Field School. Following Connie’s retirement, I have stepped in to fill her footsteps. This year I bring with me two museum studies students, two historic preservation students, an archives student, and a library science student. Together we will mark the next phase of the EFS.

The basic structure of the course is to alternate between site visits and project days. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we will be travelling the countryside visiting museums, archives, and historic attractions, meeting with the curators, librarians, and site managers who keep the places going. We will discover the challenges of preserving 9th century pilgrimage sites, as well as the challenges of keeping towns accessible for their 21st century inhabitants. Our visits will include a walk along Hadrian’s Wall with representatives from both the National Trust and English Heritage, comparing Rievaulx Abbey with a WWII star site in a discussion led by an Inspector of Ancient Monuments, a tour of Harewood House by the Head of House and Collections, and a walk through the Beamish Open Air Museum with the Keeper of Social History, just to name a few.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, each of the students will work on a project designed by Dawn Webster, curator of Kiplin Hall. Haley Grant and Anjuli Grantham will be researching and writing a report on the newly uncovered foundations of the 19th century conservatory along the garden wall. Rebecca Bush and Katharine Thompson will be establishing an expandable archival system for the papers of Kiplin’s Board of Trustees. Virginia Blake and Sarah Swinney will continue cataloging Kiplin’s library, a project begun by EFS students two years ago – only 1500 or so more books to go!

Throughout the course, students will keep you posted on their progress through this blog. Enjoy the adventure.

--Allison Marsh