Wentworth Woodhouse - The East Front

 

A detail of a Corinthian capital

Following my brief exploration of Greenhill and Norton Hammer in Sheffield, when I had learned a little bit more about the Greenmoor Rock – as seen in an old quarry and various Grade II Listed buildings – my next day out was to the village of Wentworth in Rotherham. 

 

A general view

I first visited this wonderful place more than 40 years ago and, along with the city of Lincoln and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, it is a place that I have visited time and time again - always seeing something new - and have always made a point of showing Wentworth to guests that have never visited this part of England before. 

 

The east front of Wentworth Woodhouse

On this occasion, having already visited Wentworth twice in 2021, on a round walk to Elsecar and during a visit to the closed Hoober Stand, I went with Margaret - a new resident of Treeton that had attended a Coffee Morning at St. Helen’s church and who seemed keen to learn more about Rotherham’s history. 

 

The portico

Although we had a good walk around the village, to look at the various points of interest that I have previously described in this Language of Stone Blog, I was mainly interested in getting a good look at the east front of Wentworth Woodhouse, which I had last seen a couple of years earlier on a walk to Greasbrough, when it was partially covered in scaffold. 

 

A general view

For most of the time that I have known Wentworth, although the Wentworth Estate still owns the parkland and village, the house itself was in private ownership and I couldn’t get anywhere near to have a look at the sandstone that has been used to build it. 

 

The south service wing

Now that the house is owned by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust and the scaffold had been taken down after an 18 month programme of repairs to the roof, I finally had the chance to get to see it close up. Several years before, an internet search had indicated that Mexborough Rock from the Hooton Roberts quarry had been used to build ‘Wentworth House’ and, being a geologist with expertise in stone matching, this had aroused my curiosity. 

 

Weathered sandstone on the ground floor

 

When undertaking surveys of the RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) in South Yorkshire, the owner of this old quarry had refused entry; however, a particular feature of the Mexborough Rock, seen in both the light brown and Rotherham Red varieties, is the clay ironstone nodules that are scattered sporadically throughout the sandstone – as observed in several quarries and numerous historic buildings. 

 

A detail of weathered sandstone

Being in company, I didn’t spend any time closely examining the very uniformly coloured yellowish coloured sandstone but, looking closely at the general photographs that I took, this does not not appear to be a characteristic of the stone used here. 

 

Carved details on the pediment to the south service wing

Looking at the stonework as a whole, the ashlar masonry is in very good condition and, when zooming in to look at the elaborate carvings to the various pediments, the detailing is still very sharp. As also seen at similar large C18 country houses such as Wentworth Castle and Wortley Hall, no expense was spared when hiring the fashionable architects of the time, who would then select the best sandstone available at the time - probably from West Yorkshire. 

 

The portico

Although the provenance of the sandstone used to build Wentworth Woodhouse still remains unknown to me, Natural Stone Specialist cites that the sandstone used to replace 200 balusters and extensive sections of the cornice is Howley Park stone, which comes from the Thornhill Rock in the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation near Batley. 

New balusters made in Howley Park stone

In the days when I regularly wrote articles for Natural Stone Specialist and various other trade magazines and professional journals all over the world – before the declining revenue of printed magazines and costs of translation cut off this outlet of my work – this would have been at the top of my list of projects to describe, along with Keppel’s Column in Rotherham, but I have just had to settle for taking a few photos on another enjoyable trip to my favourite village. 

 

A detail of the pediment above the portico