Newarke Houses Museum is made up of two historic houses: Wygston Chantry House and Skeffington House. William Wygston, Leicester’s richest citizen, built Wygston’s Chantry House around 1511. It became an urban gentry house after chantries were abolished in 1547 and is the only Elizabethan urban gentry house that survives in Leicestershire. Skeffington House is likely to have been built around 1583 by Sir Thomas Skeffington. Originally a one room deep stone building, it has been altered and made bigger over the centuries.
Many different people have used, lived in, changed and extended these buildings over the centuries – without doubt, they have a fascinating story to tell. Have a look and see how these two houses, built in different times, now fit together as one building.
