Heslington Hall is now the University of York’s principal administrative building but can trace its history back to Elizabethan times. The house was built for Thomas and Elizabeth Eynns in 1568. Eynns was Secretary and Keeper of the Seal to the Council of the North and had acquired quite an impressive portfolio of property as a result. Some parts of the original manor house still remain including 2 staircase towers, the courtyard and the pendant stucco ceiling over the great hall.