A CRUMBLING grade I listed temple at a mansion that was considered for as the backdrop for Downton Abbey has been conserved for hundreds of years to come in a £210,000 project.

Work to save the Ionic Temple at Duncombe Park, in Helmsley, from collapsing has included replacing its ten 5.5m sandstone columns with a hard-wearing stone quarried at Dunhouses, near Staindrop.

Surveyors said had the original 1730s stone had become as soft as butter.

Jack Duncombe, who has run the estate since 2009, said the scheme had been part of a drive to restore historic buildings in the grounds of the 150-room 1713 mansion, which was originally owned by king’s banker Sir Charles Duncombe.

He said replacing detailed hand-carved capitals, such as rams horns, had held up the process, which was funded with grants from Historic England, the North York Moors National Park Authority, the Georgian Society, the Yorkshire Gardens Trust and the Country Houses Foundation.

Other work included repairing a split in the upper dome, which had increased the chances of the whole structure falling.

Mr Duncombe said the temple was originally built as a serious statement rather than a folly and would have represented stability during a period of political turmoil.