page_title: Rufford Abbey
section_title: Country house
hierarchical_section_title: Rufford Abbey / Country house
context_page_description: Rufford Abbey is a country estate in Rufford, Nottinghamshire, England, some 2 miles south of Ollerton. Originally a Cistercian abbey, it was converted to a country house in the 16th century after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Part of the house was demolished in the 20th century, but the remains, standing in 150 acres of park and woodland, are open to the public as Rufford Country Park. Part of the park is a Local Nature Reserve.
  The house itself is constructed of rubble, brick, dressed stone and ashlar with ashlar dressings and plain tile roofs. It is Grade I listed and scheduled as an Ancient Monument.
context_section_description: The estate was granted to George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury. It was partly demolished and converted to a country house between 1560 and 1590 by the 6th Earl.
  The estate was inherited in 1626 by Mary Talbot, sister of the 7th and 8th Earls from whom it passed to her husband, Sir George Savile, 2nd Baronet. He remodelled the house in 1685–95. Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet, George's successor, made Rufford Abbey the seat of the Savile family after he burnt down the Saviles' original home to prevent its being occupied by a Parliamentarian garrison during the Civil War, but was killed in action in 1644. It was next inhabited by his son, the Marquess of Halifax, the Lord Privy Seal, who died in 1695. In 1679, he constructed a new north wing on the site of the abbey church, containing reception rooms and a long gallery. He also built the large stable block to the right of the house. The surviving service wing (currently used as offices) was also added by the Saviles in the 17th century.
  Sir George Savile, 8th Baronet died unmarried in 1784 and the estate passed to his nephew The Hon. Richard Lumley-Saunderson, later 6th Earl of Scarbrough. He was the younger son of the 4th Earl of Scarbrough and Barbara Savile, the 8th Baronet's sister and heiress. On his death the estate passed to his younger brother, the 7th Earl, and then to the latter's son the 8th Earl, who bequeathed the estate in turn to his second natural son Captain Henry Lumley-Savile. When Henry died in 1881 it passed to his younger brother Augustus William Lumley-Savile (1829–1887) and then to his eldest (but illegitimate) brother, the diplomat John Lumley-Savile, who assumed the surname of Savile only and was created Baron Savile the following year.
  By the early 1900s, the Rufford Abbey Estate comprised some 18,500 acres (75 km²), but had begun to feel the effects of rising running costs and reduced incomes. In 1931 the estate descended to the 3rd Baron Savile, who was only 12 years old, and the trustees took the decision to sell the estate off in lots in 1938. Sir Albert Ball bought much of the land, and quickly sold the house to the eccentric aristocrat Harry Clifton.
  The abbey and 150 acres of grounds were bought by Nottinghamshire County Council in 1952. In 1956 the late 17th century north and east wings were demolished and the remaining west range and south service wing put into the care of the Ministry of Works. The site was opened to the public by Nottinghamshire County Council and is today one of the most visited attractions in North Nottinghamshire.  Shops, catering, cars parks and events there are managed on behalf of the council by Parkwood Leisure.
caption: Ink on paper drawing of Rufford Abbey, Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, 1773.
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