Newby Hall - one of Britain's finest Adam Houses
Newby Hall, near Ripon, is the Yorkshire home of Mr & Mrs Richard Compton.
Featured in BBC television's "Heirs & Graces", this beautiful late 17th century
house, with much of the interior later designed by Robert Adam, was built under
the guidance of Sir Christopher Wren.
William Weddell, an ancestor the Comptons, was a prominent member of the Dilettanti
society and had made the "Grand Tour" in 1765-6. Amongst the treasures he brought
back from Europe were magnificent classical sculptures and a superb set of Gobelins
Tapestries. In order to house all these treasures, Weddell commissioned the Architect
Robert Adam to create the splendid domed Sculpture Gallery and Tapestry Room that
we see today. Indeed the entire contents of the Tapestry Room are still in their
original condition, which makes the room unique.
At the beginning of the 19th century the third Lord Grantham built the Regency
Dining Room; it is in marked contrast to Adam's fine mouldings and the graceful
elegance of the rest of the house - an elegance restored in recent years by Mrs
Jane Compton, who painstakingly researched Adam's original colours. Newby also
possess many fine pieces of Chippendale furniture, porcelain and paintings.
