Wentworth Castle facts for kids

Wentworth Castle: The south front, finished in 1764, was praised for its perfect design.

Wentworth Castle is a beautiful old country house in Stainborough, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It's a very important building, listed as Grade I, which means it's of special historical interest. This grand house used to be the home of the Earls of Strafford. Today, it's home to the Northern College for Residential and Community Education.

The land where Wentworth Castle stands was bought in 1708 by Thomas Wentworth, who was then Baron Raby. At that time, the estate was called Stainborough. The name changed to Wentworth Castle in 1731. You can still find the old name in a fun garden feature called Stainborough Castle, which is a fake ruin built just for show!

From 2001 to 2019, the Wentworth Castle Heritage Trust looked after the estate. They opened it to the public. Even after a lot of restoration work, the gardens closed in 2017 because of money problems. But good news came in September 2018! The National Trust teamed up with Northern College and Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council to reopen the gardens and park. They officially reopened on June 8, 2019.

A Look Back: The Story of Wentworth Castle
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A Look Back: The Story of Wentworth Castle

The story of Wentworth Castle begins with an older house, built around 1670 for Sir Gervase Cutler. Later, Sir Gervase sold the estate to Thomas Wentworth. This Thomas Wentworth became the 1st Earl of Strafford (of the second creation). The house was then rebuilt and changed two times by two different Earls. Each time, the changes happened under interesting circumstances.

The First Grand Makeover

East front of Stainborough (Wentworth Castle) in 1715.

The first big project to improve the house started around 1711. This was led by Thomas Wentworth, who was Baron Raby. He became the 1st Earl of Strafford in 1711.

Thomas Wentworth felt that a nearby estate, Wentworth Woodhouse, should have been his. This made him want to make his own home, Stainborough Castle, even grander. He wanted to show off and outdo the family who lived at Wentworth Woodhouse.

Wentworth was a soldier for King William III. Queen Anne later sent him to Prussia as an ambassador. When he returned, he was made an Earl. He also helped with important peace talks that led to the Treaty of Utrecht. After Queen Anne died, he lost his political power. So, he spent his retirement making his new house and gardens amazing.

He bought Stainborough in 1708. He hired a military architect named Johann von Bodt to design the new parts of the house. In 1709, Wentworth was in Italy buying paintings for his future home. He wanted a better art collection than his rivals! To show off these paintings, a huge gallery was needed. James Gibbs likely designed this gallery, which was finished in 1724.

The gallery is 180 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 30 feet high. It has beautiful marble columns and pilasters. The building work was quite advanced by 1714. The Earl even chose special large windowpanes for the house. The result was truly unique in Britain. One expert, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, called the east side of the house "palatial."

Bodt's design for the east front was very grand. It was built on a raised terrace with gravel ramps leading down to a grotto. A long, straight path lined with trees stretched out from the house. This formal design was seen in old engravings from 1714 and 1730. However, these formal gardens were later changed. The second Earl preferred a more natural-looking landscape.

The First Earl's Gardens

"Stainborough Castle," a mock ruin finished in 1730, was an early example of a garden folly.

Thomas Wentworth planted many trees across his estate. He also built a fake castle ruin, called "Stainborough Castle," between 1726 and 1730. This was one of the first "sham castles" in an English landscape garden. It was placed on the highest point, looking like an old fortress.

Inside the fake castle's central court, where four towers were named after his children, the Earl placed a statue of himself. This statue was made in 1730 by Michael Rysbrack. It has since been moved closer to the main house.

Lord Strafford was a strong supporter of the Tory political party. He stayed out of politics during the time when the Whig party was in power. In 1734, an obelisk (a tall, pointed stone pillar) was put up to remember Queen Anne. A room in the house was even called "Queen Anne's Sitting Room." Many other garden features were added over time. Today, there are twenty-six listed structures in the parkland.

The Second Earl's Contributions

The first Earl died in 1739, and his son, William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford (1722-1791), took over. This second Earl was also a talented architect. He designed the beautiful new section of the house, built between 1759 and 1764. He married the daughter of the Duke of Argyll and traveled around Europe to improve his taste. He wasn't interested in politics.

At Wentworth Castle, he worked with a master builder named John Platt and a supervisor named Charles Ross. Ross had worked on the Earl's London house, so he was trusted. It was well known that the Earl himself was the main designer for everything at Wentworth Castle.

The famous writer Horace Walpole greatly admired Wentworth Castle. He said it was a perfect example of architecture, where beauty and grandeur blended together. He praised how well the house, landscape, and even the color of the stone worked in harmony. He called it a "compendium of picturesque nature, improved by the chastity of art."

Later Years of the Castle

Early 19th-century print showing both the south and east sides of the castle.

When the third Earl died in 1799, the family title ended. The huge family estates were divided among the descendants of the first Earl's daughters. Wentworth Castle went to Frederick Vernon, a grandson of Lady Henrietta Vernon. Frederick Vernon added "Wentworth" to his name and took charge in 1816.

Between 1820 and 1840, the old chapel was replaced, and windows in the Baroque Wing were changed. Frederick also combined two ground-floor rooms to create what is now called the blue room. In July 1838, a strange hailstorm damaged the house's cupola and windows. This was a small problem compared to the nearby Huskar Colliery disaster, where 26 child miners died due to flooding after the storm.

In May 1853, a freak snowstorm also caused damage, especially to the rare trees planted by the first two Earls. Frederick Vernon Wentworth's son, Thomas, took over in 1885. He added an iron-framed Conservatory and electric lighting. The Victorian Wing was also built around this time. This allowed the family to host important guests, like the young Duke of Clarence.

In 1902, Captain Bruce Vernon-Wentworth inherited the estate. He preferred his other homes, so after World War I, he sold many valuable items from Wentworth Castle at auction. The paintings were sold in 1919.

Captain Bruce Vernon-Wentworth had no direct heirs. In 1948, he sold the house and its gardens to Barnsley Corporation. The rest of his estates went to a distant cousin. The remaining contents of Wentworth Castle were sold off. The house then became a teacher training college until 1978. After that, it was used by Northern College.

In 1986, the beautiful landscape that Walpole had praised was described as "disturbed and ruinous." Many of the listed structures were at risk. The winding river, dug in the 1730s, had become silty ponds.

Wentworth Castle Gardens is the only Grade I-listed parkland in South Yorkshire. From 2002 to 2017, it received £20 million for restoration. The Wentworth Castle Heritage Trust was formed in 2002. Their goal was to restore the parkland and gardens and open them to the public. The Rotunda was restored in 2010, and the parkland became a deer park again.

The estate fully opened to visitors in 2007 after the first phase of restoration. More work was completed in 2014.

Wentworth Castle was even on the BBC TV show Restoration in 2003. They hoped to restore the Victorian conservatory, but they didn't win the public vote. However, the Heritage Trust still worked to save the fragile structure. They raised £3.7 million and began restoring the glasshouse in 2012. The restoration was finished in October 2013 and opened to the public in November 2013.

Even though tens of thousands of visitors came each year, Wentworth Castle Gardens had to close in spring 2017. During the closure, a small team of gardeners and volunteers kept the gardens maintained.

In September 2018, the National Trust announced a new partnership. They teamed up with Northern College and Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council to reopen the gardens and park in 2019.

On Saturday, June 8, 2019, the gardens and parkland reopened under the care of the National Trust. The site is now open almost all year round. The partnership also organizes cultural and environmental events at Wentworth Castle and other sites managed by Barnsley Museums.