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Studley Castle

Listed building
Studley Castle
Photo: Colin Park, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Original Geograph photograph · Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Francis Lyttelton Holyoake-Goodricke financed Studley Castle by selling a Yorkshire estate and completed the new medieval-looking country house in 1836. It later trained women in gardening, served the Rover car company and reopened as a hotel in 2019 after major restoration.

Read the whole record

Francis Lyttelton Holyoake-Goodricke financed Studley Castle by selling a Yorkshire estate and completed the new medieval-looking country house in 1836. It later trained women in gardening, served the Rover car company and reopened as a hotel in 2019 after major restoration.

Why it was built

The Holyoake family wanted a grand new mansion at Studley. Money from the sale of Ribston Hall paid for a house that looked like a castle but was never intended as a real fortress.

People and work

Architect Samuel Beazley designed the house for Francis Holyoake-Goodricke, a county sheriff. From 1903 into the early 1960s Studley College used it to teach women practical garden and plant work.

How it changed

After the college, the Rover car business used the building for training and marketing. Conversion to a hotel followed, and a major restoration prepared it to reopen in April 2019.

What survives

The protected nineteenth-century mansion remains in hotel use at Studley. The genuine medieval castle site is separate and lies beneath the nearby sixteenth-century house called Old Studley Castle.

Why it mattered

Studley shows a romantic castle appearance applied to a modern country house, followed by unusually varied roles in women's education, industry and hospitality.

Sources for this account

Sources checked 16 August 2026.

From the Historic England (National Heritage List for England) record 1355446

The historic-place record does not grant public access. Check current conditions and ownership before entering land or a building.

Date first listed
11 December 1969
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Photo credits
  • Rod Allday, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • JThomas, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Paul Collins, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Robin Stott, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Philip Halling, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Andy Stephenson, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Malcolm Neal, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • David Stowell, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Mike Faherty, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Geof Sheppard, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
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