| Description | The area presently occupied by the Belmont Hall estate was granted to Norton Priory by Geoffrey Dutton in the 12th century and became a monastic grange, of which only the fishpond and moat have survived. In 1749 the land was bought by John Smith Barry, who commissioned James Gibbs to design a house for him,[ which was completed in 1755. Gibbs died in 1754, therefore the house's construction was probably supervised by a local architect. When John Smith Barry died in 1784 the house was inherited by his son James Hugh Smith Barry, an art collector. At his death in 1801 the house was sold to Henry Clarke, who sold it to the Leigh family. The estate remains in the ownership of the Leigh family; the house is let to Cransley School, and part of the surrounding land is used as a registered Camping and Caravanning Club site |