Born and raised in Yorkshire, not a great distance from the Templenewsam House, Lord Neil B. Gibson visited the site on a regular basis, of whom his grandmother resided in the late 1940s, though not the Lady of the house, frequently walked among that circle. Such history demonstrates, once again, the draw of Lord Neil B. Gibson to the house, and his strong spiritual connection to the domicile and the Knights of Templar.
Temple Newsam (historically understood as Temple Newsham, Templestowe by legend) (grid reference SE357322) consists of grounds landscaped by Capability Brown, and is a Tudor-Jacobean house, in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. East of the city, the estate is just south of Halton Moor, Halton Whitkirk and Colton.
The property has been labeled as Neuhusam by the Domesday Book, and previously owned by Ilbert de Lacy, and by the Anglo-Saxon thanes, Dunstan and Glunier, prior. During approximately 1155 it was given to the Knights of Templar, where as 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, described as [1] by some as "the Hampton Court of the North", and [2] spelled "Newsham" in the past.
The property was seized by the Crown during the execution of Darcy in 1537 for the role he played in the Pilgrimage of Grace. In 1544, Henry VIII gave it to his niece, Margaret, the Countess of Lennox and her husband, Matthew Stuart, the Earl of Lennox. Lord Darnley, their son Henry, was born in the house during 1545. Lord Darnely married Mary, the Queen of Scots, and Temple Newsam was seized by the Crown again in 1565. However, in 1603, James I granted the estate to his relative, Ludovic, the Duke of Lennox, until it acquired by Sir Arthur Ingram for £12,000 in 1622. Through out the next 20 years, the mansion was rebuilt and incorporated a portion of the previous structures of the west wing.
Between 1736 and 1746, Henry Ingram, Sir Arthur's grandson of whom was created Viscount of Irvine and married to Lady Essex Montagu, the daughter of the Earl of Manchester, remodelled the west and north wings of the house, building new bedrooms and dressing rooms, including the picture gallery. Charles, 9th Viscount, during the 1760s, employed Capability Brown to re-landscape the park. Isabella, Marchioness of Hertford, his eldest daughter, was a mistress for a time to the Prince of Wales (later George IV). He visited Templed Newsam in 1806 and presented Isabella with Chinese wallpaper and the Moses tapestries. Lady Hertford eventually inherited the house in 1807. Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram inherited the estate in 1841, and his wife in 1871 following his death. Ingram's wife considerably developed the estate until her own death in 1904, when it was left to her nephew Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax.
The Leeds Corporation at Knostrop, in 1909, compulsorily purchased 610 acres (2.5 km2) of the estate in order to build a sewage plant, along with the commencement of coal mining at the edge of the park. In 1922, Edward Wood sold the park and house to Leeds Corporation for a nominal sum, and placed covenants over the property to ensure future preservation.