Lord Neil Gibson's connection toTemple Newsam House

Lord Neil Gibson's connection toTemple Newsam House,

Lord Neil B. Gibson was born and raised in Yorkshire, not many miles away from the House. Growing up he visited the house on a regular basis. Lord Neil Gibson's Grandmother lived at the house in the late 1940s. Although she was not the Lady of the house, she walked with that circle. This again shows the draw of Lord Neil B. Gibson to the house and his regular visits. He as a strong spiritual connection to the history of the house and the Knights Templar.

Temple Newsam (historically Temple Newsham, in legend Templestowe) (grid reference SE357322) is a Tudor-Jacobean house with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown, in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The estate lies to the east of the city, just south of Halton Moor, Halton, Whitkirk and Colton.

In the Domesday Book the property is known as Neuhusam and was owned by Ilbert de Lacy. Before that it had been owned by Dunstan and Glunier, Anglo-Saxon thanes. Around 1155 it was given to the Knights Templar. In 1307 the Templars were suppressed and in 1377 by royal decree the estate reverted to Sir Philip Darcy. Between 1500 and 1520 a Tudor country house, Temple Newsam House, was built on the site.[1] It has been described by some as "the Hampton Court of the North".[2] It has also been spelled "Newsham" in the past.

In 1537 Darcy was executed for the part he played in the Pilgrimage of Grace and the property was seized by the Crown. In 1544 Henry VIII gave it to his niece Margaret, Countess of Lennox and her husband Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox. Their son Henry, Lord Darnley was born in the house in 1545. Darnley married Mary, Queen of Scots, and Temple Newsam was again seized by the Crown in 1565. In 1603 James I granted it to his relative Ludovic, Duke of Lennox. In 1622 the estate was bought by Sir Arthur Ingram for £12,000. During the next 20 years the mansion was rebuilt, incorporating some of the previous house in the west wing.

In 1661 Sir Arthur's grandson Henry Ingram was created Viscount of Irvine and he married Lady Essex Montagu, the daughter of the Earl of Manchester. Between 1736 and 1746 Henry, 7th Viscount of Irvine, remodelled the west and north wings of the house, creating new bedrooms and dressing rooms and the picture gallery. In the 1760s Charles, 9th Viscount, employed Capability Brown to re-landscape the park. His eldest daughter Isabella, Marchioness of Hertford was for a time mistress of the Prince of Wales (later George IV), and in 1806 he visited Temple Newsam and presented her with Chinese wallpaper and the Moses tapestries. Lady Hertford inherited the house in 1807. In 1841 the estate was inherited by Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram. Following his death in 1871 his wife inherited the estate and considerably developed it until her own death in 1904 when it was left to her nephew Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax.

In 1909 610 acres (2.5 km2) of the estate were compulsorily purchased by Leeds Corporation at Knostrop to build a sewage plant and coal mining commenced at the edge of the park. In 1922 Edward Wood sold the park and house to Leeds Corporation for a nominal sum, placing covenants over them to ensure their preservation for the future.