Rudding Park was originally part of the
Forest of Knaresborough and still retains some of the ancient oak trees. In the early 18th century Rudding was owned in turn by Messrs Williamson of Wetherby, Craddock, James Collins (who enlarged the house and planted avenues in the park) and Thomas Wilson. In 1788 Alexander Wedderburn,
Lord Loughborough, the future Lord Chancellor, acquired the estate and called in the garden designer
Humphry Repton to remodel the landscape. In 1805, the estate was purchased by the Hon. William Gordon, who demolished the original house and commissioned the building of the present house in a new location. In 1824 the estate was sold to
Sir Joseph Radcliffe, Bt. with the new house still unfinished. He secured architect
Robert Chantrell to oversee its completion. Once completed, the house consisted of two storeys, with no second floor or attic, and was made of ashlar with a Westmorland slate roof. London architect A.E. Purdie designed a
Gothic Revival chapel which was built in 1874 for Sir Percival Radcliffe, the 3rd Baronet. The chapel is the size of a parish church and constructed from Aberdeen granite and alabaster. In the early 1980s the redundant farms buildings to the north of the site were sold for a private housing development called Rudding Dower. The grounds were occasionally used for a stage of the
RAC Rally in the late 1980s. An 18-hole golf course was opened in 1995 (complete with floodlit driving range). In 2010 an extension, the Follifoot wing, was built with an additional 40 rooms. In May 2017 a new spa building was completed with rooftop spa and gardens designed by
Matthew Wilson. A gym was also added to the spa in October 2017. ==See also==