Kingston Lacy

About this place

Built in the 1660s for Sir Ralph Bankes, whose family had lost their original home at Corfe Castle during the Civil War, Kingston Lacy is a seventeenth-century country house near Wimborne Minster in Dorset.

The National Trust has managed the property since 1982, when it was bequeathed by Ralph Bankes, the last private Bankes owner of the estate.

The house holds one of the finest private art collections in the country, including works by Rubens and Van Dyck.

An Egyptian obelisk stands on the lawn, brought back from Philae by the Victorian owner William John Bankes, who had it erected with the help of the Duke of Wellington, who chose its position and laid the foundation stone.