Pinchinthorpe Hall Gardens

The manor of Pinchinthorpe is entered in the Domesday Book under the name of Thorp only. Thorp simply means village or hamlet. There are many entries in the Domesday book under the name of 'Torp' but it seems certain that a Saxon named Edmund held 3 carcurates (a measure of land which varied from 60 to 120 acres, and related to the product of the land, enough to support a peasant family, more than to its size) of land here and 2 ploughs. After the Norman Conquest Robert de Malet was given possession of the manor. Robert de Brus then held 6 carcurates of land here which descended to the Thwengs by marriage, along with other estates (Skelton). From thence it belonged to the Norman family of Pinciun or Pinchun - from which the village takes its name - sometime in the 12th century although the date of this residence is uncertain. Afterwards some land apparently passed to one Adam de Thorpe at the beginning of the 14th century.

In 1408 John de Helmsley, the Prior of Guisborough, granted to Sir Robert Conyers, knight, and his heirs, and their tenants at Pinchinthorp, common pasture in Bousdale and Hutton Lowcross. The estate then became the property of the Lee family, distant relatives of the Conyers, in about the year 1569.

In 1846 John Walker Ord described Pinchinthorpe as follows: 'The old hall is a handsome, massive, antique edifice situated at a pleasant distance from the road, with a good entrance, charmingly shaded trees; the new hall (Spite Hall), on the other hand, is a miserable, dilapidated hovel, scarcely fit for human habitation. The village is, we are sorry to add, equally wretched. The population of Pinchinthorpe in 1801 was 92. In 1841 there were a total of 60. 9 houses were inhabited.'

The Lee family were owners of the hall and most of the western side of Pinchinthorpe for almost 400 years prior to 1949. Dr Roger Lee (1532-1602) inherited the hall from distant Conyers relatives but it is thought that he never resided at Pinchinthorpe, remaining in York where he practiced medicine.

His inheritance was of ancient origin being a medieval manor house, possibly then 200 years old, surrounded by a moat. This was a rare feature in North-East England and it is not possible to determine its original purpose. This moat can still be traced and is today listed as a national monument. The original structure of the manor house has long been submerged in later buildings and additions.

The estate passed to his son, William Lee, in the early 17th century. William Lee faced many financial problems and, during the Civil War, despite their Royalist sympathies, the family is said to have suffered at the hands of marauding Royalists. The estate was inherited by William's son Roger, known as Roger the Elder who had five sons and six daughters. He rebuilt and expanded the house - as evidenced by the Hearth Tax returns which showed 3 hearths in 1662 and 8 in 1674. The ornamental gate posts of a former front drive date from this time. The succession of Roger's sons was not straightforward. There had been numerous difficulties between father and his fourth son, also named Roger, and the bulk of the estate was actually left to Roger the Elders grandson, James. It is not known when James took up residence at the Hall but by the mid 1750's he had made many improvements to the house. The date 1761 on the former dairy, now the restaurant, shows later work undertaken.

James had two sons - James and William. This James also had two sons and four daughters. His second son James eloped with Mary Terry in 1808 and consequently did not benefit greatly from his father's will, however the later generations of the Lee family are descended from James and Mary.

The eldest son, John Lee (1782 - 1836) inherited an estate in great need of repairs and improvements. To raise money he was to sell off much of the timber on his land. To re-stock the woods he bought many different kinds of seedlings and young trees including 700 hawthorns. John worked hard and took great pride in laying out the grounds and gardens of the Hall. He set up hot houses and improved the ancient L-shaped moat as a fishpond. His pride in his gardens and grounds was shown by a clause in his will which stated that no alterations should be made 'in the lawns, fishponds, orchards, garden, hothouses, plantations and pleasure grounds or any part thereof'. John Lee had initiated some repairs to the Hall in 1825 and may have been responsible for building the coach house and stables on one side of the stable yard. John Lee died tragically in 1836 when he shot himself. The Lee family retained ownership of the Hall for more than 100 years but never again lived.

Sir Joseph Pease

In 1875 Sir Joseph Pease of Hutton Hall took over a lease of the Lee Estate with an obligation to repair the Hall. Great alterations and additions were made during this and a subsequent lease. This work explains the medley of architectural styles which pervade the building and make it difficult to analyse the remains of earlier building. It was Sir Joseph's intention to eventually buy the Hall and the entire estate from the Lee family but this plan was never fulfilled due to the collapse of the Pease family's financial interests in 1902.

The Hall was subsequently let to Mr. Penry Williams, a Liberal MP in Middlesbrough. The sale of the Hall and grounds in 1947 to the Williams family terminated the land ownership in the district of the historic Lee Family.

The Hall today

Today the Hall is the home of the North Yorkshire Brewing Company and has been transformed into a 17th Century Country House Hotel in a spectacular woodland setting offering an atmosphere of calm and seclusion. The 'Friends of Pinchinthorpe Hall Gardens' aim to restore the grounds and gardens into something of their former glory.