Temple Newsam. Temple Newsam is a Tudor-Jacobean house in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. The estate lends its name to the Temple Newsam ward of Leeds City Council, in which it is situated, and lies to the east of the city, just south of Halton Moor, Halton, Whitkirk and Colton. It is one of nine sites in the Leeds Museums & Galleries group. 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, who built Temple Newsam Preceptory some distance from the current house. 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. It has been described by some as the Hampton Court of the North. It has also been spelled Newsham in the past. In 1537 Thomas, Lord 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 E12,000. 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 married Lady Essex Montagu, the daughter of the Earl of Manchester. Between 1736 and 1746 Henry Ingram, 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. The work was continued by his widow Frances, nee Shepheard, who rebuilt the south wing, and lived at Temple Newsam until her death in 1807. Their eldest daughter Isabella, Marchioness of Hertford was for a time mistress of the Prince of Wales, and in 1806 he visited Temple Newsam and presented her with Chinese wallpaper and the Moses tapestries. Lady Hertford inherited the house in 1807 and passed it on to her younger sister Frances, wife of Lord William Gordon, on her own death in 1834. In 1820 novelist Walter Scott published Ivanhoe featuring a Templar preceptory named Temple Stowe; it is believed that this was modelled on Temple Newsham, and the name is preserved in local road names such as Templestowe Crescent. In 1841 the estate was inherited by Hugo Meynell-Ingram, son of Frances, Lady Gordon's sister Elizabeth Meynell. 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, later 1st Earl of Halifax. In 1909 610 acres 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. The house and estate are owned by Leeds City Council and open to the public. The estate is made up of large woodland, many areas of which join onto the surrounding estates of Leeds. There are facilities for sports including football, golf, running, cycling, horse-riding and orienteering. There is also a children's play park. The local football team, Colton Juniors, play on the football pitches surrounding the house. The house has recently undergone substantial restoration to its exterior. There is an established programme of restoring rooms back to known previous configurations, reversing the numerous intrusive installations and modifications that took place during the building's art museum phase. There are substantial holdings of fine and decorative art which are designated by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as being of national significance. Of most significant historical and cultural interest is the Chippendale Society collection of Chippendale works that are on permanent loan. Temple Newsam House is one of Leeds Museums and Galleries sites, and has an international reputation for scholarship and research, unusual in a local authority museum service. In his book Britain's Best Museums and Galleries, Mark Fisher gives this museum an excellent review.