Castle Howard Castle Howard Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, north of York. It is a private residence, and has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years. Castle Howard is not a true castle, but this term is also used for English country houses erected on the site of a former military castle. It is familiar to television and film audiences as the fictional "Brideshead", both in Granada Television's 1981 adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" and a two-hour 2008 remake for cinema. Today, it is part of the
Castle Howard Treasure Houses of England group of heritage houses. Building of Castle Howard began in 1699 and took over 100 years to complete to a design by Sir John Vanbrugh for the 3rd Earl of Carlisle. The site was that of the ruined Henderskelfe Castle, which had come into the Howard family in 1566 through the marriage of Thomas, 4th Duke of Norfolk to Elizabeth Leyburne, widow of Thomas, 4th Baron Dacre. For the Duke of Norfolk's son Lord William Howard had married his step-sister Elizabeth Dacre, the daughter of the 4th Baron Dacre who brought with her the sizable estates