1066 to 1520 In the
Domesday Book of 1086 the manor is listed as
Neuhusam (meaning new houses) and was
held by
Ilbert de Lacy and his sons. Before the
Norman Conquest of 1066 it had been held by Dunstan and Glunier,
Anglo-Saxon thanes. The Templars farmed the estate very efficiently, with 1,100 animals. In 1307 the Templars were suppressed, and
Edward II granted the manor to Sir
Robert Holland who held it until 1323 when he was deprived of his estates. Between 1500 and 1520 a Tudor
manor house, known as
Temple Newsam House, was built on the site. It has also been spelled "Newsham" in the past. of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, and his brother Charles Stuart in a grand interior based on a print by
Hans Vredeman de Vries which may reflect Temple Newsam's Great Chamber
1500 to 1650 In 1537 Thomas, Lord Darcy was executed for the part he played in the
Pilgrimage of Grace and the property was seized by the Crown. A portrait of Henry and his brother was probably intended to represent the interior of Temple Newsam despite being based on a print of an ideal interior. Following the marriage in 1565, Temple Newsam was seized by Queen
Elizabeth I and was managed by an agent. In 1609 King James I, successor to Elizabeth, granted the estate to his Franco-Scottish second cousin
Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox (1574–1624), who was a favourite of the King and given many titles and estates, including farmland and
coalmines in the local area. Despite his opportunities, Ludovic was in constant debt and he mortgaged the estate in 1614 for the sum of £9,000 (around £860,000 in today's money). In 1622 Lennox began the sale of the estate to
Sir Arthur Ingram ( – 1642), a Yorkshire-born London
merchant,
civil servant, investor in
colonial ventures and
arms dealer, for £12,000, which he paid in two instalments, the last in July 1624, after Lennox's death. Arthur's son, also called Arthur, inherited the estate with its debts and continued the building and renovation work. Six months after
Charles I was beheaded in 1649, Arthur Ingram the younger was declared
delinquent and he compounded his estates and retired to Temple Newsam.
1650 to 1900 After the death of Arthur the younger's eldest son, Thomas, in 1660, Temple Newsam was inherited by Arthur's second son,
Henry Ingram, 1st Viscount of Irvine (created a
peer of Scotland as Baron Ingram and
Viscount of Irvine in 1661 – although the family used the English form "Irwin"). In 1661, Henry married Lady Essex Montagu, daughter of
Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, a favourite of
Charles II. Extant receipts from 1692 show women as well as men were employed to work the estate in haymaking. In 1712,
William Etty designed a new approach to the house, with a bridge and ponds. In 1714, Temple Newsam was inherited by
Rich Ingram, 5th Viscount of Irvine, and his wife
Anne who spent a vast fortune furnishing the house and creating the East Avenue. after a drawing by
Leonard KnyffIn the 1760s,
Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount of Irvine, employed
Capability Brown to re-landscape the park on the insistence of his wife,
Frances Shepheard, daughter of
Samuel Shepheard. Reflecting her interest in pastoral landscape design, Frances is depicted as a shepherdess in a portrait by
Benjamin Wilson at Temple Newsam. Some aspects of Brown's plan depicted in paintings by James Chapman and
Michael Angelo Rooker were never completed such as a large lake near the house. Lady Hertford inherited the house in 1807; after her husband died in 1822 she spent the season in London, and the rest of the time at Temple Newsam where she involved herself in charitable works including distributing food and clothing to the local people. She allowed the servants to hold an annual supper and ball at Temple Newsam. During the last years of Isabella's life, the canal, railway and roads encroached on the estate as well as coal mining; and she dealt with the companies setting these up. At her death in 1834, Isabella left Temple Newsam to her widowed sister, Frances Ingram Shepheard, wife of
Lord William Gordon, who died in 1841.In 1841 the estate was inherited by Hugo Charles Meynell Ingram (d. 1869), son of Elizabeth Ingram, sister of Frances Ingram (Lady Gordon), who made no alterations to the estate. In 1868, the
Prince of Wales stayed at Temple Newsam during his visit to Leeds to open the Fine Art Exhibition in the New
Leeds General Infirmary; temporary triumphal arches were erected on the estate. Following Hugo Charles's death, his son
Hugo Meynell-Ingram (d.1871) inherited Temple Newsam; two years later, at his death, his wife
Emily Meynell-Ingram (d.1904) inherited the estate. In 1922 Edward Wood sold the park and house to Leeds Corporation for a nominal sum, placing
covenants over them to ensure their preservation for the future. An offer to purchase the contents for a reduced sum was turned down by the council, resulting in most being sold in 1922. On 19 October 1923, Temple Newsam was opened to the public along with a golf course. In the
Derby Daily Telegraph newspaper, Temple Newsam was compared to
Hampton Court Palace. Despite many people visiting the house and using the golf course, the Corporation lost money during the first decade mostly due to poor farming practices. In July 1932, the
Great Yorkshire Show was held at Temple Newsam and was a great success. Preparations for war were made as early as April 1939, and in August, small items were being packed up for storage. In September 1939, Temple Newsam was closed to the public and items were moved there for storage from
Leeds Art Gallery. It was decided that objects would be displayed, and the house was officially reopened in November 1939, when it was again likened to Hampton Court in the press. == Architecture ==