View of Cave Castle, near Hull, with a lady and gentleman in the foreground and boats on the Humber beyond

The precise date of the original building on the site of Cave Castle is unknown. Lewyns Boldero Barnard bought the castle in the mid 18th Century and recorded that the foundations were of 'ancient origin'. The gentleman and lady in the foreground of the present picture are presumably Henry Boldero Barnard (1755-1815), the son of Lewyns Boldero Barnard, and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth, whom he married in 1788. Henry Boldero Barnard set about rebuilding and enlarging the original house, which was called East Hall Manor, and renamed it Cave Castle after the completion of the alterations. The present picture, datable to the late 1780s or early 1790s, shows the house before the 1804 alterations undertaken by the architect Henry Hakewill which, amongst other features, added the distinctive angle turrets and battlements which still exist today. The tower of All Saints Church in South Cave is depicted in the distance.