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Medieval Burton Constable

Burton Constable's historic parkland hides a wealth of history, stretching back to the days before the Norman Invasion of 1066.

Hidden beneath the grass of North Park and within the very structure of the Hall itself lies a treasure trove of information about the earliest days of this fledgling settlement.

Even the name of the hall itself gives a clue to the site's earliest days. Burton means a fortified settlement, a word dating to the Anglian culture. Erneburga of Burton Erneburga married Ulbert Constable for the Count of Aumale in 1190.

Their son renamed the settlement Burton Constable.

Deserted Medieval Village

A time traveller to the 12th Century would would find a bustling village here, home to c.40 families. Long strips of farmland stretched across the park. A border of wooded common-land allowed villagers to catch rabbits, and a small mill turned grain into flour. A stone tower overlooked, protected and controlled the village, with the villager tenants paying the owner rent in coin or food. By 1336 crops and rent were falling. The Black Death plague struck in 1349, reducing the population further. By the 1500s the village had disappeared. The Constable family enclosed the land, building their grand manor and formal gardens.

St Stephen's Tower

The oldest part of Burton Constable's splendid Hall dates to the 12th Century, and is partly responsible for the naming of this site. The base of this stone-built fortified tower (which may have replaced a still earlier structure) can still be seen across the lake from where you now stand. It was from this central nub that the Constable family extended their ancestral home when they moved here from nearby Halsham, their historic family seat, in the 16th Century.

Grand Designs

Tudor period power-politics were fierce! Sir John Constable's shrewdness in navigating them gained him wealth and status; allowing him in 1560 to rebuild Burton Constable Hall.

Sir John's son Henry was equally clever; as Sheriff of Yorkshire he continued building work on the family's hall. Less success by John and Henry's successors, and a slight weakness for gambling, meant the house underwent few further improvements until William Constable inherited the estate in 1747. Immediately, work began refurbishing the Hall in the latest Georgian style using the era's most prestigious designers and craftsmen.

Capability Brown redesigned the landscape to a natural style, removing formal gardens. The Tudor stables were pulled down and replaced by Lightoler's grand new stable block further from the Hall. Today, William's coat of ochre paint used on the whole Hall to mimic stone has been removed; otherwise, it looks much as it would have done when William left it.

In this section

English Landscape

Medieval Burton Constable

Georgian Landscape Architecture

The Whale Belt

Restoring Our Woodland