Wentworth Woodhouse, the Largest Private Residence in Great Britain

Wentworth Woodhouse can be found in the village of Wentworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. This Grade I listed country house is considered to be the largest private residence in all of United Kingdom (Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, while larger that Wentworth Woodhouse, are not privately-owned).

History of Wentworth Woodhouse

The estate where Wentworth Woodhouse sits covers over 2.5 acres of land area, and the house itself is surrounded by 180 acres of park and 15,000 acres of estate. With over 300 rooms, the house’s floor space extends over an area of 250,000 square feet, 124,600 square feet of which is occupied by the living area. Meanwhile, its east front that stretches 606 feet, which is twice as long as that of the Buckingham Palace, is the longest country façade in Europe.

A Jacobean structure (currently the west front) once stood on the grounds of Wentworth Woodhouse, which was built in the 1630s by Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who had the unfortunate fate of being sacrificed by King Charles I to the Parliamentarians, which led to his execution in 1641.

The property was inherited in 1725 by the son, Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, who commissioned local architect Ralph Tunnicliffe to turn the western range of the house into a brick-built, English Baroque structure. In 1734, even before the west range was finished, the grandson, landowner and politician Thomas Watson-Wentworth, hired Henry Flitcroft to build the east front extension, a much larger house that faced the other way. They patterned the said structure to the Wansted House designed by Scottish architect Colen Campbell. Flitcroft also enlarged the west front and added wings.

Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, inherited Wentworth Wodhouse in mid-1800s. To further develop the house, he employed John Carr, who provided porticoes to each of the wings and added a storey to parts of the east range. One of the rooms was named after one of the most famous racehorses of all time, Whistlejacket. The Whistlejacket Room once featured a George Stubbs portrait of the eminent horse.

Wentworth Woodhouse was inherited through marriage by the family of the 2nd Marquess’s sister, the Earls Fitzwilliam. In 1790, Lord Fitzwilliam hired landscape gardener Humphry Repton to improve the parkland, which included the creation of two large serpentine-shaped pools visible from both the east and west fronts.

Royal Visits
This stately home has had royal connections, too. In 1835, for example, a young Princess Victoria spent some time at the house. In 1912, King George V and Queen Mary stayed at Wentworth Woodhouse for four days. On the last evening of their visit, 25,000 people gathered on the lawn to see the royal couple in the balcony of the portico, where the king gave a speech.

Intelligence Connection and Coal Mining Field

During World War II, Wentworth Woodhouse served as a Training Depot and Headquarters of the Intelligence Corps. In April 1946, a large part of the Wentworth estate was mined for coal upon the orders of the then Labour Party's Minister of Fuel and Power Manny Shinwell, whose main vindictive intent was to obliterate the Fitzwilliams and the privileged rich.  A "column of lorries and heavy plant machinery" went on to excavate 99 acres of lawns and woods, uprooting ancient trees and destroying the renowned gardens. A 50-foot pile of debris was also placed in front of the house. The mining, which went on until the early 1950s, is said to have caused substantial structural damage subsidence due to subsidence, a claim dismissed by the Tribunal.

Contemporary History

From 1949 until 1979, the West Riding County Council leased most of this English country house and became home to the Lady Mabel College of Physical Education, a school that trained female physical education teachers. From 1979-1988, Sheffield City Polytechnic merged with the Lady Mabel College and based their Physical Education and B.A. Geography & Environmental Studies departments at Wentworth. Due to high maintenance cost, the school eventually gave up the lease.

Wentworth Woodhouse was already in a poor state when it was bought by businessman Wensley Grosvenor Haydon-Baillie in 1989. Despite starting a restoration program, a business failure caused the property to be repossessed by a Swiss bank. The house was put on sale in 1998. Highgate architect Clifford Newbold bought Wentworth Woodhouse for £1.5 million. Following his death in 2015, the house was put back to market for £8 million. In March 2017, the property was sold to the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust for £7 million. Wentworth Woodhouse is currently under renovation, boosted by a grant from the government amounting to £7.6 million. Dubbed as “the UK's biggest restoration project', costs could stretch to over £100 million.

Wentworth Woodhouse has emerged as the filming location of many movies, such as the award winning Darkest Hour, as well as feature length TV series, like Victoria, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Charles III, and Billionaire Boy.  Music videos and stunning fashion photography shoots are also held in the house and its grounds thanks to its striking architectural features and open spaces.