Wentworth Castle and Stainborough Park estate , South Yorkshire: Rotherham Web

Wentworth Castle and Stainborough Park estate

Thomas Wentworth (1672-1739) purchased the estate at Stainborough from the Cutler family in 1708,(Sir Gervase Cutler of Stainbrough had died in 1704) and after substantial rebuilding Stainborough Hall was renamed Wentworth Castle. Thomas Wentworth was created 1st Earl of Strafford of the 2nd creation in 1711.

His son William (1712-1791) subsequently became 2nd Earl. He died without issue and the title and estate passed to his cousin's son, Frederick Wentworth (1732-1799), the 3rd Earl. After he too died without issue the 2nd Earldom became extinct.

At the death of Charles Watson-Wentworth(1730-1782), 2nd Marquis of Rockingham in 1782, his nephew, William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, (1748-1833), 4th Earl Fitzwilliam succeeded to the Wentworth estates in England and Ireland. The Earl died at the age of 85 in 1833; his son and heir, Lord Milton, had long taken an active part in the management of the Fitzwilliam estate

The estate passed to Frederick's sister, Augusta Wentworth (Mrs Hatfield Kaye), and after her death in 1802 was inherited by a descendant of the 1st Earl, Frederick W T Vernon (1795-1885), who changed his name to Vernon-Wentworth.

He was succeeded by his son, Thomas F C Vernon-Wentworth (1831-1902), and grandson, Captain Bruce Canning Vernon-Wentworth (1862-1951). Captain Vernon-Wentworth, who died without issue, sold the estate to Barnsley Corporation in 1948. The house was a teacher training college until 1978 and is now used by Northern College.

This Castle, which occupies the site of an eminent fortress, was built about the year 1730, by Thomas, Earl of Strafford. It is a large quadrangular building, and over the centre window of the north front are the arms of the founder. The east front of this noble mansion is of a modern character, and was erected by William, Earl of Strafford, about 1770. Its architecture is at once both elegant and rich. In the interior are a great many spacious and elegant rooms, but its greatest beauty is to be found in the gallery, one hundred and eighty feet long, by twenty-four broad, and thirty high, divided into three divisions, by magnificent pillars of marble, with gilt capitals.

Views of Wentworth Castle

The will of the Hon. Lady Augusta Frederica Louisa Frances Vernon-Wentworth K.T. wife of Frederick William Thomas Vernon-Wentworth, Esq., of Wentworth Castle, York, and Connaught Place, Middlesex, was proved, at Wakefield, under £90,000, by Arthur Bethel Thellusson, Esq. her son-in-law, and Thomas Frederick Charles Vernon-Wentworth, Esq. her son, the acting executors and trustees, the other executors being her brothers, the most Hon. George William, Marquis of Ailesbury, K.G. P.C., and the Right Hon. Lord Ernest A. Bruce, C.B. P.C., to whom power is reserved to prove hereafter.

She bequeaths to the Beckett Dispensary, Barnsley; St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington; Cancer Hospital, Brompton; and the Royal Hospital for Incurables, Putney, each £100; and to the parishes of Worsbrough, Worsbrough Dale, Stainbrough, and Dodworth, each £25 free of duty.

To her two daughters, Louis Mary H. Vernon-Wentworth and Henrietta Frances Elizabeth Thellusson, all her jewels, diamonds, and ornaments of the person, and her horses and carriages equally between them, as well as the rest of her property, appointing them residuary legatees.

Wentworth Castle was extended in 1909 when a new wing was built by Arthur Cooper Builder and Stonemason.

Hood Green Lodge

William Clegg was a stonemason, he worked on the Wentworth Castle Estate for upwards of 30 years, during which he assisted in the building of Hood Green Lodge. When the Birdwell Obelisk was struck by lightning in about 1913, he was responsible for putting up the scaffolding and replacing the top stones.

« On the reverse of one of the following three postcards, it states:

This is a new lodge we are building at Stainboro'. It was dated 1909 and was written by Betsy(pictured on the first image), wife of Harold Clegg, carpenter and daughter-in-law of the stonemason, William Clegg, to her sister Beatrice Frost

See also Henry Skrine's visit to Wentworth Park, Barnsley and Wentworth, Rotherham.

The Great Hall	The Bridge over Serpentine	The Conservatory
Front of Old Castle	The Old Staircase	The Picture Gallery
The Mausoleum, in memory of the 2nd Marquis of Rockingham	The Dairy Avenue	Queen Anne's Sitting Room
The Sundial	Rockley Woodhouse	The Strafford Dining Room