A BBC programme will follow the work of an army of local volunteers who are saving one of the UK’s grandest stately homes and hoping to restore it to its former glory.
Wentworth Woodhouse in South Yorkshire was once one of the most important stately homes in England. It was built between 1725 and 1750 and one of its owners, Charles Watson-Wentworth, was British prime minister twice (albeit briefly both times). The house then passed to the Fitzwilliam family in 1782. The success of the estate was built on the rich coal seams owned by the House’s owners, the aristocratic Fitzwilliam family.
But in recent decades, the estate’s fortunes fell into decline, and the House was in serious danger of going to rack and ruin.
Rosemary Johnson, Volunteer cleaner at Wentworth Woodhouse (Image: Robin Hood Media/Andrew Lyons)
In 2017, it received a lifeline and Wentworth Woodhouse was saved by a Preservation Trust, which bought the ‘Big House’ for the benefit of the former mining community around it.
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For the last seven years, local people – mainly passionate volunteers who remember the House from their childhoods as a private aristocratic estate – have been working tirelessly to restore the property to its rightful place as a prize jewel in Yorkshire’s crown.
‘Brasso’ Dave does small bits of restoration work and recently spent 400 hours restoring a chandelier in the chapel! Dave’s wife Rosemary works as one of the ‘Classy Scrubbers’, a group of women who clean the impressive state rooms so that they look their best for visitors, as well as being used for events and film and TV shoots to raise more cash for restoration work. Brian is an ex-miner who now volunteers as a buggy driver at Wentworth.
As well as the volunteers, Wentworth Woodhouse is providing valuable job opportunities for locals. Helen works in the gardens and oversees the creation of a new community garden, which in the future will grow fruit and veg to sell in Wentworth’s cafes. Liam is another member of the gardening team, working closely with Helen.
This year is a crucial milestone for the Wentworth Woodhouse project, which needs to show the wider world that it can turn its ambitious vision into a reality.
Most importantly, there’s the public opening of the Camellia House in Spring 2024 and the programme climaxes with a summer festival in the grounds of Wentworth Woodhouse, which marks the start of a busy summer season of events.
Our Yorkshire Stately Home will air on BBC One on Friday 20 September at 7.30pm.
