page_title: Grantley Hall
section_title: The Norton Family
hierarchical_section_title: Grantley Hall / The Norton Family
caption_attribution_description: English: Charlotte Earle Norton (nee Beechey) circa 1820
context_page_description: Grantley Hall is a Country house located in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated near Grantley, about 5 miles to the west of Ripon, on the banks of the River Skell. It is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England, and the Japanese garden at the hall is listed Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
  The house was built by Thomas Norton and his son Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley in the mid 18th century, apparently based on a Palladian design by Isaac Ware. Additions in the 1760s have been attributed to John Carr, who knew Fletcher Norton. The house was extended during the 19th and early 20th centuries to form the house as it stands today.
  More recently the building was used as a convalescent home during World War II. Between 1947 and 1974, the house was under the ownership of West Riding County Council, who purchased the property to use as an adult education residential college before it passed to North Yorkshire County Council in 1974, to become a training and conference centre. In 2006 the property was sold to a private purchaser for residential use.
context_section_description: Thomas Norton (1683–1719) built Grantley Hall in about 1710 shortly before his marriage. His father became the owner of the Grantley Estate in the previous century and he inherited it. In 1712 he married Elizabeth Serjeantson, the daughter of William Serjeantson of Hanlith .  There is an elaborate memorial to Elizabeth in Ripon Cathedral. Unfortunately he died in 1719 at the age of 36 leaving his wife with four small children, three sons and a daughter. His eldest son Fletcher Norton was only 3 years old when he inherited the Grantley estate.
  Lord Fletcher Norton (1716–1789) studied law and became a Member of Parliament In 1762 he received a knighthood and in the following year became Attorney-General and later Speaker of the House. In 1741 he married Grace Chapple (1711–1803) who was the daughter of Sir William Chapple, a Judge on the Kings Bench. It seems that in about 1760 he made substantial additions to Grantley Hall. In 1782 when he retired he was titled Lord Grantley, Baron of Markenfield. Markenfield Hall is a nearby property which he also owned. He died in 1789 and his son William Norton, 2nd Baron Grantley inherited Grantley Hall.
  Lord William Norton was born in 1742 and became a Member of Parliament. In 1791 he married Anna Margaretta Midgeley. They had 2 sons but both died in infancy. His wife also died several years after they were married. When William died in 1822 Grantley Hall was inherited by his nephew Fletcher Norton (1798–1875).
  Lord Fletcher Norton, 3rd Lord Grantley was born in 1798. In 1825 he married Charlotte Earle Beechey who was the daughter of Sir William Beechey, the famous portrait painter. Sir William painted a portrait of his daughter which is shown.
  Lord Fletcher Norton decided on a military career and was an officer in the Grenadier Guards. He fought at the Battle of Waterloo where he was wounded. He inherited Grantley Hall at the age of 24 and managed the Estate until his death in 1875. As he had no children his nephew Thomas Brindsley Norton (1831–1877) inherited the Estate. Thomas was the son of the famous social reformer and author Caroline Norton about whom many books have been written.
  Thomas died only two years after he inherited the property at the age of 47 and his son John Richard Brindsley Norton (1855–1943) became the owner in 1877.
  John Richard Brindsley Norton, 5th Lord Grantley was born in 1855. In 1879 he caused a public sensation by marrying Katherine the wife of his cousin after being named as co-respondent in a divorce case. Katherine was from New York and was the daughter of Commodore McVickar of the New York Yacht Club and founding member of the Knickerbocker Club. In 1900 John sold Grantley hall to Sir Christopher Furness.
  His son Richard, 6th Lord Grantley wrote a book called Silver Spoon. In it he records his memoirs and describes Grantley Hall as “a gargantuan edifice with sixty bedrooms, on the edge of sixteen thousand acres of wild moorland. This was the home of most of my own boyhood.”
  He describes his father John as “as a huge man — he was well over six feet — with blue eyes, a heavy moustache, and wavy hair which kept its wave and its thickness long after, in later life, it went white.” He says his mother Katherine “was far from being the typically useless rich woman of that particularly pretentious period. She was a charitable and generous friend and employer and while up at Grantley would herself see that no tenant was ever in distress without her giving help.”
caption: Lady Charlotte Earle Norton, daughter of Sir William Beechey and wife of the 3rd Lord Grantley
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