Castle Howard is getting ready for Christmas with restoration and research, conserving a major collection item from the Victorian era and uncovering the Estate’s relationship with prolific writer Charles Dickens.

The stately home announced its Christmas extravaganza, ‘A Dickens of a Christmas at Castle Howard’, earlier this year. The Charles Dickens theme draws creative inspiration from the works of the great British novelist, bringing his beloved tales to life through installations, soundscapes and projections. The displays will incorporate collection items and draw on other connections from Castle Howard’s history.

Castle Howard’s previous Christmas events are multi-award-winning and drew record-breaking visitor numbers in 2025. This years’ experience opens to visitors from the 12th November. A Victorian carriage will be on display inside the House for the first time as part of the displays. Castle Howard records show the carriage was made by Barker & Co of Chandos Street in 1879 for Rosalind, 9th Countess of Carlisle, and cost £190.

Castle Howard Curator Matthew Wood explains: “We’re very excited to display this beautiful piece of history as part of the Dickens-themed installations – perhaps Dickens himself may have travelled in something similar. The carriage is a Brougham, a type of enclosed carriage developed in the 1830s by Lord Brougham which was designed to be light, fast and economical, requiring only one horse. The carriage has yellow and black livery which was used by the Howard family on their carriages in the Victorian era, and the doors are further decorated with the Howard lion. In the 1980s the carriage was found in farm buildings on the estate and was then restored.”

Dickens’ connection to the Estate is well documented. Malton Museum volunteer Eleanor Whaley explains: “I’m thrilled that Castle Howard is celebrating Dickens this Christmas; it’s fantastic to share the connection to Malton’s history.

Charles Dickens’ association with the local area began when he befriended Charles Smithson, who ran a legal firm in Chancery Lane in Malton. Smithson lived at Easthorpe Hall on the Castle Howard Estate (which sadly no longer exists), where Dickens stayed for several weeks in July 1843. The area had a lasting impression on Dickens, as he recounted in letters that his ‘friends in that part of the country (close to Castle Howard)’ were the ‘jolliest of the jolly’.

After Charles Smithson’s death in 1844, Dickens informed the Smithson family that the office in Chancery Lane was the model for Ebenezer Scrooge’s Counting House in A Christmas Carol, including the notorious door knocker. Dickens sent a copy of A Christmas Carol to Smithson’s widow, signed “Mrs Smithson, from Charles Dickens, 18th April 1844”. This copy was bought for Malton from a private vendor in 2012.”

The Howardian Hills National Landscape erected a Charles Dickens bench on the Castle Howard Estate as part of their 40th birthday celebrations in 2025, to further mark and celebrate the connection.

A Dickens of a Christmas at Castle Howard runs 12th November to 3rd January, with tickets on sale now. castlehoward.co.uk