Tea at Trianon: Ripley Castle in Yorkshire

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, November 20, 2025

Ripley Castle in Yorkshire

Ripley Castle

From Country Life:

If every Englishman’s home is his castle, then the opportunity to snap up Ripley Castle could fulfil the ideal for some. This property near Harrogate, ancestral seat of the Ingilby family for the last seven centuries, came onto the market in January at £21 million. Perhaps unsurprisingly considering the size and variety of the 445-acre estate, the family are happy to split things into lots; but the bulk of the asking price was the £15 million for the castle itself, including 166 acres of parkland, woodland, lakes and a temple.
Since then, the asking price for the Grade I-listed, 14th-century Ripley Castle been slashed by £7.5 million — something which might set alarm bells ringing, especially as the reduction ‘is principally down to market conditions’, points out Mark Granger, consultant at Carter Jonas. The other eight lots — including a pub, village store, woodland and cricket ground — have apparently generated a good deal of interest at or above their original guide price. So why the price cut for the main attraction?
Part of it is the market. Evidence suggests that demand for country houses is slowing, and buyers are becoming picky: ‘in 2025, among homes priced above £3 million, more than 43% of listings have seen a price reduction, and you are now three times more likely to withdraw from the market than to secure a buyer’, says Jonathan Handford, managing director at Fine & Country, and ‘while the market has not collapsed, it has become highly selective.’ (Read more.)

Ripley Castle