Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Visit to Markenfield Hall and Thornborough Henges

Cost: £28 per person for Markenfield Hall private tour, to include tea/coffee and cake.  There is no charge for the Henges.

A mediaeval, moated and much-loved 13th and 14th century family home, Markenfield Hall is an historic house unlike any other. Set within stunning Yorkshire countryside south of Ripon, medieval Markenfield has remained largely untouched, and is one of a handful of moated, medieval manor houses that could still be recognised by their original owners.

Access via the Courtyard to the front of the Hall is flat and therefore suitable for wheelchair users. There is one main staircase within the house with wide, shallow treads. There are two small landings on the stairs and it is possible to have chairs placed on these landings to break up the climb.

The tour is booked to start at 11 a.m. to allow time for the (roughly) one hour/ 30 mile drive from York. Tours take one-and-a-half to two hours, to be followed by tea/coffee and cake.  The visit to Markenfield will be followed by the short drive to Thornborough Henges, part of a Neolithic complex in North Yorkshire, now in the care of English Heritage; the subject of the YPS lecture on 9 April 2024.  The henges consist of three giant, circular earthworks, each more than 100m in diameter, dating from the Neolithic and Bronze Age.  They are thought to have been part of a “ritual landscape” beside the River Ure and are probably the most important single prehistoric site between Wessex and Orkney.

Access via the Courtyard to the front of the Hall is flat and therefore suitable for wheelchair users. There is one main staircase within the house with wide, shallow treads. There are two small landings on the stairs and it is possible to have chairs placed on these landings to break up the climb.

This trip will be by private car, as we anticipate that people will want to spend varying times at the Henges and may wish to visit other features of the ritual landscape.

To join this visit please complete the booking form and return as indicated:

Markenfield booking form final

Member’s report

This trip was planned to balance inside with outside, in the knowledge that the henges are large and exposed to the elements.  It was thought that even if the trip to the latter was rained off at least the journey had not been wasted.  As it was the weather could not have been more cooperative: despite a forecast that threatened showers it only rained while we were inside Markenfield Hall, remaining dry for the rest of the day and allowing for full exploration of the henges.

Markenfield Hall, where we started, is a moated manor house which has remained largely unchanged for centuries.  Markenfield is mentioned in the Doomsday Book. The first building on the site was probably timber framed with wattle and daub walls; no trace of it remains. The subsequent twelfth century hall was incorporated into the current building in the fourteenth century, so that what you see as you cross the moat and enter through the gatehouse would be recognisable today to those C14th Markenfields, making the house one of a very small number  which survive without significant alteration into the C21st.  Our guide gave us the full history of both buildings and owners throughout the centuries.  Some family members have risen to prominence (one medieval Chancellor of the Exchequer who considerably enriched himself and crenelated the hall) whilst others, being Catholics, lost the property to the Crown, having backed Mary Queen of Scots against Elizabeth I in an ill-advised, thwarted, rebellion.  Markenfield (both the hall and the 600-acre farm) were given to a court favourite, and subsequently passed through other hands until the estate was bought back into family ownership; they own it still.  The current owner writes “It has had its fair share of unhappiness over the centuries and yet has an extraordinary atmosphere: peaceful and benign.”

The henges’ history makes that of Markenfield seem very recent.  They date from the Neolithic and Bronze ages.  There are three giant circular earthworks, each more than 100m in diameter that are thought to form part of a ‘ritual landscape’ beside the River Ure, comparable with Salisbury Plain and the River Avon.  To quote Historic England and English Heritage, who now own the site, it is “probably the most important single prehistoric site between Wessex and Orkney”.  The site was only acquired in February 2023: to date efforts have concentrated on conserving the henges’ banks, which are being undermined by rabbits, and erecting some information boards.  There are plans for car parking and other facilities, and consideration is being given to the best way to manage the northernmost henge, which is covered with trees.  Those of us who had come on to the henges made our way around the site, covering as much or as little as we individually wanted and an informative time was had by all.

Felicity Hurst

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