Event/Course - Ha-Ha happy to help (Wentworth)

IT may be called the Ha-Ha wall – but restoring this historic feature on a South Yorkshire estate is no laughing matter!

Volunteers are being trained in the intricate art of dry stone wall building to repair the East Ha-Ha at Wentworth Castle at Stainborough, Barnsley.

The wall, which is set into a trench, was created in the mid-18th century to allow uninterrupted views of Wentworth’s landscape while at the same time preventing grazing animals straying onto the ornamental gardens from nearby parkland.

Over the last 30 years the feature has gradually crumbled and now needs significant restoration work to bring it back to its former state.

The project has been set up by Wentworth Castle Heritage Trust, Steel Valley Project and the Yorkshire Dry Stone Walling Academy, with help from the East Peak Innovation Partnership.

Walling instructors from the academy have trained 12 conservation volunteers and staff before they set about rebuilding the structure.

On Saturday, October 8 a free all-day session is being led by trainers from the academy, giving beginners an introduction to building dry stone walls.

For more information or to book a place call Kate Hughes at the Steel Valley Project on 0114 2830880.

A lecture is also taking place next Saturday to discuss the estate’s Blackamoor garden statue, which was restored last year.

The talk, titled The Wentworth Blackamoor and the War of the Spanish Succession, will be led by Wentworth Castle Trust trustee Dr Patrick Eyres.

Dr Eyres will give an insight into the statue, installed at the gardens in around 1720 as a monument to Thomas Wentworth’s achievement in bringing about the Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the Spanish war.

The talk starts at 2pm and will be rounded off with a traditional cream tea.

To book visit www.wentworthcastle.org or telephone 01226 776040.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/green-scene/ha_ha_happy_to_help_1_3706122

TV - Wentworth Estate on country show (BBC1 Sunday 30 January 19.00)

A GARDEN estate in South Yorkshire is set to feature on the BBC One television series Countryfile this Sunday.

The show team spent a day at Wentworth Castle Gardens near Barnsley earlier this month, and was given a tour by estate manager Michael Klemperer.

The feature will be screened at 7pm and looks at the development of Stainborough Castle, the parkland and the restoration of the estate’s 19th century conservatory. 

Heritage director Vicky Martin said she was “thrilled” the programme chose to film at Wentworth.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/estate_on_country_show_1_2977868

I'm surprised the buildings not "too old" to appear :P 

A Family War of the Follies Leaves a Little Reminder of Rivals

DON'T you just love a story of family rivalry – that is, so long as it doesn't concern your own kith and kin? 

 

Strolling through the hundreds of graceful acres of some of Britain's large country estates, the visitor will appreciate the planning and hard work that went into creating the sumptuous gardens and views of mansion and monuments, but we don't necessarily understand how these vast properties came about.

Take Wentworth Castle. Five minutes from junction 37 of the M1, this is the only grade one listed landscape in South Yorkshire, and it encompasses a fascinating collection of 26 listed buildings and monuments. Among them are the Rotunda, Queen Anne's Obelisk, the Duke of Argyll's Column and the majestic Stainborough Castle, a large romantic folly built by Sir Thomas Wentworth the Earl of Strafford in 1730.

Designed as an "eyecatcher", this mock castle, believed to be the second oldest Gothic garden folly in the country, is a wonderful architectural flourish with four towers named Harriet, Anne, Lucy and William after the Earl's children. The interior of each was painted a different colour.

Patrick Eyres, a landscape historian and one of the trustees of Wentworth Castle Heritage Trust, clearly enjoys telling the story of the castle and the property on which it stands.

"In 1695, when Sir Thomas's father died, he expected to inherit the estate at Wentworth Woodhouse which had been in the family for generations, six miles as the crow flies from where Wentworth Castle now stands.

"But for some reason the inheritance was passed down the female line to a cousin called Thomas Watson, who added Wentworth to his name. He was a member of the gentry, whereas Sir Thomas was an aristocrat, a renowned and respected diplomat. Finding himself disinherited, Sir Thomas bought the 500-acre Stainborough Hall Estate nearby and set about building a castle and a series of follies around his land, including the mock castle. It had a bailey wall and four turrets, a gatehouse keep with four towers and a first floor banqueting room. It was properly plastered inside, and was used regularly to entertain. The name of the estate was changed to Wentworth Castle, probably to annoy the cousin down the road.

"A lovely letter exists, written by Sir Thomas, detailing how he entertained in the folly, and even enjoyed a 'breakfast' there with Thomas Watson Wentworth, although the two men were poles apart in many ways including politically."

The disinherited Sir Thomas went about adding to his acreage by secretly buying up land from local farmers and referring to his rival in documents by the codename "the vermin". The Earl of Strafford's son continued the rivalry, and the owners vied with each other to create eye-catching follies on their land.

The pinnacle of this "folly war" really was Stainborough Castle, says Patrick Eyres. "I think we can safely say that Sir Thomas Wentworth and his family's efforts outranked, outswanked and outshone those of the cousin at Wentworth Woodhouse – although over time the family at Wentworth Woodhouse rose to become more senior within the aristocracy. The castle folly at Wentworth Castle was placed deliberately so as to be seen from the highest point of the Wentworth Woodhouse Estate. Unlike most follies, though, it was useful for entertaining and for the children to play in."

Today, Wentworth Woodhouse is still in private ownership, whereas Wentworth Castle is now the Northern College, an adult education centre. The gardens and parkland are open to the public and are looked after by the trust. In the 1960s two of the castle folly's towers collapsed after the structure was destabilised by the opening up of new coal seams beneath it. The castle fell into disrepair and became overgrown, although some thought this added to its romance.

In recent years, Stainborough Castle has been expensively restored after a campaign to raise £20m to refurbish the mansion, gardens, parkland and follies, and it can be used for picnics or to hold events, seating hundreds of visitors for theatrical and musical performances.

The folly was featured in the BBC's Restoration series and will be seen again next year in another BBC series about Britain's "hidden" houses, which will examine the famous Wentworth family rivalry.


Wentworth Castle Gardens, Low Lane, Stainborough, South Yorkshire S75 3EN. 01226 776040 or www.wentworthcastle.org

From: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/features/A-family-war-of-the.6674450.jp