Jan 302011
 

I bought my partner Black Diamonds for Christmas. Not  the ‘Black Star of Africa’ or ‘Table of Islam’ type, she isn’t that lucky because I’m not that rich, it’s one of the downsides of being a professional photographer. What I did buy her was the book “Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty” by Catherine Bailey. It tells the epic and stranger than fiction story of the Fitzwilliams, who claim descent from William the Conqueror and once owned what was, in fact still is, the largest privately owned house in Britain, Wentworth Woodhouse.

I have lived in South Yorkshire all my life, I have heard of the Fiztwilliams, Wentworth House and that there was something special about the place but as is often the case with things you grow up around I hadn’t really given it that much thought. Even when one of my first assignments as full-time professional press photographer was to cover the wedding of  Wensley Haydon-Baillie, one time owner of Wentworth Woodhouse who married at Wentworth’s “new” Victorian Church with Prince Michael of Kent reportedly as his best man, I didn’t really think beyond that immediate story.

Above left: Former owner Wensley Haydon-Baillie and his new bride are congratulated by a local as they walk the footpath back to Wentworth Woodhouse from the Fitzwilliam family Church. Above right: Prince Michael of Kent attends Haydon-Baillie’s wedding in Wnentworth.

Below: Commissioned by the 6th Earl of Fitzwilliam in 1872  at a cost of around £25,000 in memory of his parents, with a spire of almost 200 feet tall Wentorth Church is visible for miles around. Dedicated to the Holy Trinity it was designed in Gothic revival style by leading Victorian church architect James Loughborough Pearson who later designed Truro Cathedral.

Wentworth Woodhouse, the size of the building is breathtaking.  Built by Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, added to by his heir, in the nineteenth century it was  inherited  and became the family seat of the Earls Fitzwilliam. It took a Scots Lass Born in Glasgow, who strangely enough can trace her ancestral linage back to one of  William the Conqueror’s Noblemen to pique my interest in the place enough to try and capture the grandeur of its East façade. This is really the only shot that can be taken of the house as it is a privately owned house and not open to the public.

You really do have to stand in front of this Grade I listed country house in Wentworth, South Yorkshire to fully appreciate its size. The East Front, 606 feet (185 meters) long, it is the longest country house façade in Europe. With 365 rooms the house covers an area of over 2.5 acres (10,000 square Meters).  Currently it is owned by a retired architect in his 80s called Clifford James Newbold who, if what I have read is to be believed….

  • Paid in excess of £1.5 Million pounds for Wentworth Woodhouse.
  • Paid £1.5 Million pounds for Wentorth Woodhouse
  • Moved from a “family sized home” in Highgate to Wentworth Woodhouse.
  • Lives there alone.
  • Is a recluse
  • planned to convert it into three homes for his family.
  • Is is progressing with a defined programme of renovation/restoration.

I’m only guessing here but I think its probably fair to say some of the things written about Mr Newbold may not be quite accurate.

  • What seems fairly certain is in 1998 he was Master of the Guild of Freemen of the City of London.
  • In May of 2010 the guild held three events
  • Thursday 13 May 2010 – Weekend Visit to Wentworth Woodhouse
  • Thursday 13 May 2010 – Reception & Gala Dinner – Wentworth Woodhouse
  • Friday 14  May 2010 – Day Visit to Wentworth Woodhouse

If Britannia Historical Attractions are to be believed when the house went up for sale for £1.5 Million pounds it would “require ten times that to restore”  and  “In Early May 1999, Wentworth Woodhouse was purchased for a figure substantially in excess of the guide of £1.5m”

While I haven’t seen them apparently Country Life Magazine published evidence of the restoration and renovations in issues dated 17 February and 24 February 2010.

Its seems as though some people are always willing to believe the worst, something borne by the graffiti on the sign at the entrance to Wentworth House. Surrounded by a 150 acre (0.6 km²) park the numerous “Private”  and  “Keep off the Grass” signs gave me the feeling that my presence was being  suffered because it is a public right of way rather than welcomed. If like me the mysteriousness of Mr Clifford James Newbold has raised your curiosity levels a photograph of the present owner can be found here under the heading “Presentation to the Guild 27 February 2008”