Although Sir Charles Duncombe had purchased the Helmsley Castle estate from the Duke of Buckingham's executors in 1695, for the then enormous sum of #90,000, it was his nephew Thomas Duncombe who commissioned the monumental Palladian villa at Duncombe. Designed by William Wakefield circa 1713-18 and subsequently improved by both Sir Charles Barry (from 1846-51) and Sir Gilbert Scott (1877), Duncombe was ravaged by a disastrous fire on 11 January 1879 which gutted the central block. Although the majority of the contents were rescued, a further fire in the family apartments in 1894, just when the reconstruction carried out under the direction of William Young from 1891-4 was nearing completion, destroyed much of the furniture and tapestries. It seems most probable that these console tables were supplied for these newly refurbished interiors.

It is interesting to note, therefore, that a pair of related 'Kentian' eagle console tables were supplied to Sir Julius Wernher at Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, circa 1900-5, for the 'Louis XVI' refurbishment by the Ritz decorators Charles Mewès and Arthur Davis.