Early Origins: Helmsley Estate

The story begins not with the Duncombes but in medieval times. In the early 12th century, Helmsley and its adjacent lands were granted to Walter de L’Espec, a Norman baron. He built Helmsley Castle and helped found Rievaulx Abbey, solidifying the estate’s early prominence Ownership then passed to the de Ros family, who fortified the castle in stone, and later the Manners family, Earls of Rutland. By the 1630s, George Villiers, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, acquired the estate through marriage—a sign of its continued strategic and social importance

The Duncombe Transformation

Charles Duncombe’s Acquisition

In 1689, London banker Sir Charles Duncombe, reputedly the richest commoner in England, purchased the approximately 40,000‑acre Helmsley Estate for £90,000 A goldsmith’s apprentice turned Parliamentarian and banker, Duncombe had made significant political and financial strides. Notably, he opposed the founding of the Bank of England and faced legal troubles related to exchequer fraud—though he was later acquitted

Despite his wealth and status, Duncombe never lived at Helmsley Castle; instead, upon his death in 1711 he left the estate to his nephew Thomas Brown—who adopted the Duncombe surname.

Building Duncombe Park (1711–1730)

Thomas Duncombe embarked on a grand Georgian vision. In 1713, he commissioned William Wakefield—an architect from Yorkshire, potentially aided by Sir John Vanbrugh in style—to construct a new Italianate Baroque mansion on a gentle terrace overlooking the valley

The house, built of honey-coloured ashlar, boasted an austere but elegant eleven-bay façade, Doric portico, and symmetrical layout. Inside, richly decorated spaces featured plasterwork, marble fireplaces, a dramatic wrought-iron staircase, and lofty ceilings—epitomizing early Georgian grandeur shutdown123