Published on Tue Jun 07 10:51:58 BST 2011
IN his BBC2 series Country House Revealed, Dan Cruickshank visited Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham. This magnificent palace, one of the biggest houses in the country, is a grade/listed building set in a beautiful parkland setting, occupied by 500 red deer.
Once part of a 19,000-acre estate, the house is now owned by one man and his wife and three sons, whilst the estate is run by the Fitzwilliam/Wentworth Trust.
As viewers to the programme will have observed, the owner is doing his best to conserve the house but it’s a losing battle.
The history of the Wentworths, followed by the Fitzwilliams and the Rockinghams, is also a large part of Yorkshire’s history. Just five miles from Wentworth Woodhouse, on the other side of the M1 motorway at Stainborough, is Wentworth Castle, an estate also owned by the Wentworths.
The contrast between the two estates is amazing.
Wentworth Castle is run by a Trust, dedicated to restoring the estate to its former glory. Today it has attracted nearly £20 million in Lottery grants.
The mansion at Wentworth Castle is owned by the Northern College, and run as an educational centre. Although it is closed to the public, access is allowed on 60 days of the year.
Wentworth Woodhouse is also closed to the public but the owner, we are told, has spent thousands of pounds on preservation.
Dan Cruickshank also revealed that the owner was now looking at ways to bring the house back to life.
The people of Yorkshire are proud of their history and they recently proved this by rescuing the treasures that were under threat at Nostell Priory near Wakefield. I am sure they will respond in the case of Wentworth Woodhouse.
G Thompson, Wakefield