MARKINGTON HALL
In 1069 there was no Markington Hall but a fortified hunting lodge which was situated in the Forest of Knaresborough. This was later sacked and burnt to the ground.
The first hall was built about 1285-1309. In 1309 Henry de Markington was listed as being Lord of Markington Manor.
The earlier building at Markington was supplanted by the present Hall in Tudor times (the actual date is unknown) and all that remains of that original building is the six foot thick wall in the big hall next to the fireplace.
In 1698 the Hall was bought by Robert Davye.
Wings were added in the 17thC and 18thC.
In 1731, through the will of Robert Davye of York, the estate passed to the Wilberforce family, with whom it still remains. The present owner is great, great, great, great grandson of William Wilberforce, the slave emancipator, who signified his ownership of the place (though he never actually lived here) by styling himself in his parliamentary canditure as ”of Markington”.
In the early 1930’s extensive alterations to the property, chiefly on the east side of the house, were carried out to the designs of Lord Illingworth of Denton who married Margaret Wilberforce in 1931.
In 1939 the old chapel in the south-east corner of the hall was abandoned in favour of a new chapel constructed in an outbuilding. Here, the original roof timbers have been preserved. This and other outbuildings vie in antiquity with the older part of the Hall, (the 13thC. Tithe Barn and coach house).
Saint Joseph's Catholic Church, Bishop Thornton
and the Wiberforce family
The Wilberforces of Markington Hall have been associated with St. Joseph’s for many decades, William (1798-1879), eldest son of the great emancipator of the slaves, became a Catholic in 1863.
Their home, and later a converted outbuilding, became a centre for Masses until the early 1990s. Besides being generous supporters of the parish, members of the family were responsible for two of the church windows.
The chapel, now a workshop
The ‘Mary Ward’ window tells much of the story of Catholicism in the parish over more than 400 years, while the ‘Cardinal Newman’ window may be seen as celebrating Newman’s friendship with, and spiritual influence on, the convert William Wilberforce.