ABOUT REVESBY ESTATE
Natural Environment | Community & Culture | Heritage | Visual Character
Estates are unique businesses. Beyond their financial requirement to survive they often have very clear groups of non-financial objectives. We call these building blocks. In total we have four, the protection and improvement of:
Natural Environment
The balancing of the needs of the environment against the need for profit is one of Revesby Estate’s most defining characteristics. We view and deliver our environmental objectives in a unique way.
We view them in five key pigeonholes:
Arable lands
Wet Lands
Woodlands
Grass Lands
Reduction of Carbon & Waste
These varied natural environments require detailed and long-term planning to ensure they survive and thrive. At Revesby, we operate 5-year, 10-year and 15-year environmental plans to ensure the Estate will support the species that rely on it far into the future.
When necessary, we will both create new habitats and improve existing ones, constantly seeking to not just maintain, but also diversify, the wide variety of animals and plants that rely on the Estate for their survival.
Regular surveys and species mapping ensures we are constantly aware of the health of the Estate’s natural environment and all of the Estate’s commercial departments are committed to these principles. We rely and work closely with both government and membership organisations as well as volunteers.
Community
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Heritage
Any Estate which has survived for almost a thousand years, will have a rich history and many stories to tell. Revesby is no different, and the Estate is very proud of the role its personalities have played on local, national and international stages over the years.
The beginnings of today’s Revesby Estate are almost 1,000 years old. Less than 100 years after the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Cistercian monks of the Rievalux Abbey joined the Estate’s lands for the first time.
Having dissolved the monastery, Henry VIII made a royal gift of Revesby to his brother-in-law, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.
The Banks family bought Revesby Estate in 1714. Four generations of Banks – all confusingly called Joseph – played their part in developing Revesby Estate into something recognisable today. Since which time the Estate has benefited from unbroken ownership.
The First World War was not kind to the Stanhope family. Along with millions of his generation, the Honourable Richard Stanhope fought and died in war. He was killed at the Battle of the Somme on 15th September 1916.
Having lost her husband in the war, Lady Beryl continued to take a very keen interest in the running of the Estate. She was a keen and knowledgeable agriculturalist, with a particular passion for breeding horses, especially for hunters and shires.
Revesby Estate again lost family members in the Second World War. Lady Beryl’s son, Humphrey was killed in a Spitfire accident in 1942. However, before his death, Squadron Leader Humphrey Gilbert had served with distinction, fighting in the Battle of Britain and being awarded the DFC for exemplary gallantry.
In this decade Revesby Estate saw large investment in land drainage and grain storage.
The reservoir is converted to commercial fisheries.
A carbon reduction plan results in closer monitoring of fossil fuels and the creation of five woodchip district heating networks. Natural habitats benefit from a ten year protection and improvement plan.
Farms, forestry and energy, lifestyle, fisheries, events, lettings and investments.
Covid19 sweeps through the country and the rest of the world. The Revesby community comes together to support each other.
Visual Character
Revesby Estate has its own unique visual character. This character has taken centuries to mature. It forges together both the natural environment, man-made structures as well as finer Estate details. Whenever any works happen on the Estate, we are mindful of the above.