History
The Langold Estate was bought from Thomas Burton by Sir Ralph Knight in 1650. Over the next 20years, Sir Ralph enlarged the existing house and purchased the manor and estate of Letwell and Worksop and later the manor at Firbeck.
Sir Ralph was an officer in Cromwell's army and after the death of Cromwell, Sir Ralph and his close friend General Monk marched to London in order to restore Charles II to the throne. Sir Ralph headed the march to London and after the restoration he was then promoted to Colonel. Sir Ralph Knight and his wife Faith had four children, but because the eldest son John Knight had no sons, it was the second son Isaac who succeeded to Langold after his father's death. Sir Ralph died on April 21st 1691 and was buried at Firbeck.
Ralph Knight, the son of Isaac Knight and grandson of Sir Ralph Knight was an amateur of landscape design and architecture. In the 1750s, Ralph designed the estate in similar styles to those of his friends, Thomas Worsley of Hovingham (1711-1778).
Ralph Knight died in 1768 and his sister Elizabeth and her husband Dr Henry Gally (1696-1769) inherited the estates. Dr Gally changed his name to Knight after inheriting the Estate.
Dr and Mrs Gally Knight had two sons, John and Henry. When John died in 1804 aged 63, his younger brother Henry Gally Knight MP, a barrister inherited Langold and died in 1808 aged 56. Henry's wife, Selina was responsible for the rebuilding of Firbeck Church, until her death in 1823.
Henry and Selina Gally Knight had one child, another Henry Gally Knight, born in 1786. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College Cambridge. He served as High Sherriff and MP for Aldborough (1824-28), Malton (1830) and North Nottinghamshire in 1830 and again in 1837.
Henry Gally Knight the younger was married to Henrietta Eyre of Grove near Retford in 1825, but had no children. He set out to rebuild Langold Park after he inherited it in 1808. It is recorded that Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, was employed to design a large new house in the gothic style, overlooking the lake.
Henry Gally Knight received two designs, one in 1814 and another in 1817. In 1817, the old manor was demolished and new foundations were constructed - some of these still survive, but work never proceeded beyond that point.
'Henry Gally Knight wrote to his friend Lord Milton in 1818 to say that he had 'discontinued building at Langold'. However, by 1828 it was recorded that Henry Gally Knight was living at Firbeck and employed William Hurst, a Doncaster Architect (1787-1844) in 1820 to alter Firbeck Park and rebuild Firbeck Church.
When Henry Gally Knight died in 1846, as he had no children, he left the Langold Estate to his friend Sir Thomas Woolaston White of Wallingwells. The White family developed the Langold property for coal mining, before selling the estate in 1926.