The Entrance Hall

The architecture of Ancient Rome inspired the decorative motifs used in Robert Adam’s neo-classical design for William Weddell’s Entrance Hall. The exquisite plasterwork by the famous and most skilled stuccoist Joseph Rose includes panels of martial trophies.

The mahogany doors are of a particularly high quality and it is interesting to note how the quality of detail and door furniture varies on the doors throughout the house. The painting above the fireplace is St Margaret by Annibale Carracci (1560 – 1609) and the floor is of Sicilian marble.

The chamber organ was designed by Robert Adam’s older rival James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, while the organ itself was made by Thomas Haxby of York. The organ is still played today.

The tables are all by the Yorkshire-born designer and cabinet maker Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779), as are the set of elegant hall chairs. The chairs are listed as being in the Entrance Hall in the inventory of contents made in 1792 by Thomas Chippendale the younger when Newby passed from William Weddell to Lord Grantham.

The Dining Room

The Dining Room was designed in 1807 by the 3rd Lord Grantham around some furniture from his father’s house, the other Yorkshire Newby now known as Baldersby Park, near Thirsk.

He copied the frieze from one drawn by his father for that house in 1785, and the chair rail relates to the vine leaf pattern on the two side tables, and the pair of pedestal vases. Lord Grantham re-used three of the alabaster urns with lamps in them that Robert Adam had designed for the niches in William Weddells’ dining room (now the Library); but he had them repainted to match his father’s urns. These and the set of chairs were made by Thomas Chippendale for William Weddell. The chairs are similar to those at Harewood House and Nostell Priory.

The colour for this room, redecorated in 1980, was taken from an original drawing by Lord Grantham, and found in an old folio by the current owner’s mother, Jane Compton.

The Library

In William Weddell’s day this room was the dining room. Robert Adam designed the original decoration in 1767-9 in French grey, black and buff colours, and the richness of the plaster shows the work of Joseph Rose.

The ends of the room are apsidal with impressive columns, their Corinthian capitals crisply carved in wood. In the western apse stands the fourth Adam alabaster urn, originally intended to cast light over a carved sideboard; the other three urns are in the Dining Room.

The 3rd Lord Grantham made the room into his library in 1807 and later generations have kept it that way. The French commode under the alabaster urn is of the Louis XV period, as is the bureau-plât in tulipwood and kingwood between the windows. On either side are early nineteenth-century library steps and a rosewood library table. Above the fireplace on the overmantel stand a charming French clock inscribed ‘du Tertre’, two Meissen plates, and four Chinese bottles.

The Tapestry Room

Here, in what had been the entrance hall of the original house, Adam created a drawing room specifically for William Weddells’ set of Gobelins tapestries which he ordered in Paris in 1763.

One of only six sets made for English patrons they are now the only set remaining in its entirety in the setting for which it was made. The subjects, ‘The Loves of the Gods’ were from designs by François Boucher, the favourite painter of Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour. Woven under the management of Jacques Neilson, they were delivered in 1767, travelling to England in the French Ambassador’s diplomatic bag in order to avoid import duty!

The entire room, completed in 1776, has a coherent design scheme: the English Axminster carpet and ceiling were both designed by Adam and Thomas Chippendale was commissioned to provide the sofas and chairs, designed to fit around the room under the tapestries. They are the only pieces of Chippendale furniture known to have retained their original upholstery and covers.

The Statue Gallery

Although John Carr of York was the architecture for the south wing, Robert Adam fitted into it his greatest creation at Newby, the Statue Gallery: two square rooms with a central rotunda, in the style of a Roman house.

Adam’s concept for this sculpture gallery can be traced to his sketches of Roman ruins at Tivoli and to the influence of Clerisseau’s drawings and Piranesi’s archaeological plans. He also designed the pedestals, plinths and stove cases which conceal a heating system.

Entering from the Library (then the dining room) Weddell and his friends enjoyed the sculptures by lamp and candelight, which must have made them look as if they were in an ancient temple – which was the desired effect. Weddell is thought to have bought his entire collection from the dealer Thomas Jenkins in Rome.

Newby’s is probably the finest collection of Roman statuary in private hands in Britain; it consists mainly of a mixture of Roman pieces from the first century BC to the second century AD, with a few eighteenth century copies. Whilst it is clear that many have been heavily restored and even completed, this was a perfectly acceptable practice in the eighteenth century.

Weddell’s passion for classical sculpture led to nineteen chests of sculpture being transported to Yorkshire. To him and his fellow collectors the statuary symbolised refined taste and noble, classical virtues.

The Billiards Room

No other room at Newby underlines the contrast between Georgian and Victorian life in the house so forcibly as the Billiards Room. It now contains portraits and relics of the Vyner family.

Chief among them is the picture of Sir Robert Vyner and his family by John Michael Wright, the original of which was exhibited in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Sir Robert, the leading goldsmith of his day, was commissioned to remake the regalia destroyed by Cromwell, for the Coronation of King Charles II in 1661. Excellent replicas of the regalia he made are on display in the Entrance Pavilion.

On the side table is a circular portrait of Lady Mary’s youngest son, Frederick, who was murdered by Greek Brigands in 1870. It was as a memorial to him that his mother commissioned William Burges to build the Church of Christ the Consoler in the park.

The Circular Room

It is possible that William Belwood, York architect and surveyor who frequently built to the designs of Carr and Adam (Belwood was a protegè of Robert Adam), designed this beautiful room which acted as both an ante-room to the Print Bedroom or a morning room.

It provided access for the servants via a concealed door and guests would have caught their first view of Newby’s fine park from here. According to tradition the decorative grotesque work on the walls and ceiling was done by William Weddell’s wife Elizabeth Ramsden who was a friend of Joshua Reynolds. The subjects of the ceiling paintings are derived from paintings found at Herculaneum and Pompeii during the excavations in the mid-eighteenth century.

Christ the Consoler

The extraordinary exuberance of Christ the Consoler makes an immediate impact on the visitor. Built in 1871-76, it stands as an extravagant memorial to a young man, Frederick Vyner, who was murdered by brigands while travelling in Greece.

His mother used the money collected for his ransom to commission the famous Victorian architect, William Burges, to build this church in the grounds of her home at Newby Hall. Standing inside the gates of the park, and surrounded by huge beech trees, the outside is impressive, with its lofty spire, pinnacles and fine rose window. The design is based on medieval French church architecture, but with Burges’s unique interpretation.

The interior is wonderfully rich and colourful, with each window containing stained glass in strong and vibrant colours. Every detail here repays attention: the carvings on the corbels and on the organ case, the coloured sculptures over the chancel arch depicting the Ascension, the carvings of the chancel stalls and the fine pavement. Colours and details become progressively more opulent as you approach the east end. Burges employed the best craftsmen of the day to work here, and everywhere you look there are examples of their skill. Excellent carving in stone and wood, lovely metalwork, and the finest quality sculpture enrich the walls. Everything is on a magnificent scale; the effect is almost overwhelming. And yet, for all its splendour, you cannot forget the tragic circumstances out of which this church was built.

The Church is open daily during daylight hours.