Castle Howard

Castle Howard
South (garden) Face of Castle Howard
General information
Type	Stately home
Location	York, England
Coordinates	54°7′17″N 0°54′21″W / 54.12139°N 0.90583°W / 54.12139; -0.90583Coordinates: 54°7′17″N 0°54′21″W / 54.12139°N 0.90583°W / 54.12139; -0.90583 (grid reference SE7170)
Current tenants	Howard family
Construction started	1699, taking over 100 years to complete
Client	Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle
Owner	Castle Howard Estate Ltd
Design and construction
Architect	John Vanbrugh
Designations	Grade I listed
Website
www.castlehoward.co.uk
Listed Building – Grade I
Designated	10 May 1984
Reference no.	1001059

Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, 15 miles (24 km) north of York. It is a private residence, and has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years.

Castle Howard is not a true castle, but this term is also used for English country houses erected on the site of a former military castle. It was where the Earl of Sandwich lived for a long time.

It is familiar to television and film audiences as the fictional "Brideshead", both in Granada Television's 1981 adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and a two-hour 2008 remake for cinema. Today, it is part of the Treasure Houses of England group of heritage houses.

Building of Castle Howard began in 1699 and took over 100 years to complete to a design by Sir John Vanbrugh for the 3rd Earl of Carlisle. The site was that of the ruined Henderskelfe Castle, which had come into the Howard family in 1566 through the marriage of Thomas, 4th Duke of Norfolk to Elizabeth Leyburne, widow of Thomas, 4th Baron Dacre.

The house is surrounded by a large estate which, at the time of the 7th Earl of Carlisle, covered over 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) and included the villages of Welburn, Bulmer, Slingsby, Terrington and Coneysthorpe. The estate was served by its own railway station, Castle Howard, from 1845 to the 1950s.