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The Great Britain Guide

Stately homes · Yorkshire & the Humber

Wentworth Woodhouse

Britain's largest privately-owned house — 365 rooms, 606-foot façade, near Rotherham.

Statue, Wentworth Woodhouse - geograph.org.uk - 5458172

Ian S — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
2 h–4 h

About

Wentworth Woodhouse near Rotherham is the largest privately-owned house in Europe — its 606-foot east front (1734) is twice the length of Buckingham Palace, its 365 rooms and 1,000 windows the largest country-house enfilade in Britain. After post-war coal-mining undermining and decades of neglect it was bought by a preservation trust in 2017; restoration is ongoing and most state rooms are open to ticketed visitors.

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From the Wikipedia article

Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. The building has more than 300 rooms, with 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of floorspace, including 124,600 square feet (11,580 m2) of living area, and was – until it ceased to be privately owned – often listed as the largest private residence in the United Kingdom. It is surrounded by a 180-acre (73 ha) park, and an estate of 15,000 acres (6,100 ha). The original Jacobean house was rebuilt by Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham (1693–1750), and vastly expanded by his son, the 2nd Marquess, who was twice Prime Minister, and who established Wentworth Woodhouse as a Whig centre of influence. In the 18th century, the house was inherited by the Earls Fitzwilliam and the family of the last earl owned it until 1989. It now belongs to the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust and is undergoing restoration.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

, c.1768]] The English Baroque, brick-built, western range of Wentworth Woodhouse was begun in 1725 by Thomas Watson-Wentworth, (after 1728 Lord Malton) after he inherited it from his father in 1723. It replaced the Jacobean structure that was once the home of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, whom Charles I sacrificed in 1641 to appease Parliament. The builder to whom Wentworth's grandson turned for a plan for the grand scheme that he intended was a local builder and country architect, Ralph Tunnicliffe, who had a practice in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. Tunnicliffe was pleased enough with this culmination of his provincial practice to issue an engraving signed "R. Tunniclif,…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
53.4742, -1.4117
Address
Wentworth, South Yorkshire

Sources

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Frequently asked questions

Where is Wentworth Woodhouse?
Wentworth Woodhouse is in Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
When was Wentworth Woodhouse built?
Dates from the Georgian period.
Who owns Wentworth Woodhouse?
Wentworth Woodhouse is owned by Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust.
Is Wentworth Woodhouse a listed building?
Wentworth Woodhouse is officially recognised as Grade I listed.