A planning application has now been submitted regarding the restoration and future use of the South Tower at Wentworth Woodhouse in Rotherham.
Caroline Stanford, in-house Historian at the Landmark Trust, is also giving a lecture on how Lady Mary, 2nd Marchioness, planned her room with architect John Carr in the late 1770s, as well as on Landmark’s plans to date.
Founded in 1965, The Landmark Trust works to save historic buildings in danger of being lost forever. Sensitive restoration offers "landmarks" a new future by making them available to everyone for self-catering holidays. The lettings income from the 200+ extraordinary buildings in the charity's care supports their maintenance and survival in our landscape, culture and society.
A campaign to raise £500,000 launched last year with plans to restore the secluded eyrie and a rare survival of 18th century feminine taste within the monumental Rotherham mansion and create a holiday let for two people.
937 individual Landmark supporters and charitable trusts are supporting the plans.
The Landmark Trust commissioned detailed preparatory research and analysis on the interior, and the talk on September 8 will also cover findings from paint and plasterwork analysis, and how the magnificent decorative ceiling, lost in the 20th century, is to be reinstated.
"The proposals aim to sensitively adapt the interior of the South Pavilion to provide holiday accommodation, while retaining and enhancing its historic character to the high quality expected of a Landmark Trust property. The upper chamber will be restored and presented as a sitting room, reflecting its late 18th century decorative scheme and historic use.
"Secondary spaces within the South Quadrant will be reconfigured to provide a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, with a restrained decorative approach appropriate to their historic function.
"Access to the accommodation will be via a discreet route from the rear of the building, avoiding disruption to the principal elevations and respecting the historic setting. The works are designed to be conservation-led, materially appropriate, and aligned with Landmark Trust’s commitment to sustainable heritage management.
"The proposals support the long-term stewardship of the building, enabling public engagement with a historically significant part of the estate while ensuring its continued use and maintenance."
Correspondence from 1778 between the estate steward Benjamin Hall and architect John Carr reveals that the upper room of the South Tower was being fitted out for private use. The work was overseen by Lady Rockingham, who also directed the furnishing and decoration of other ancillary buildings such as the Conservatory and Tea Room which is now known as the Camellia House.
The son of the Fourth Earl Fitzwilliam, Charles Viscount Milton, used the top floor as his study in the years leading up to his inheritance of the title in 1833, with the 1832 plans labelling the room as such. The room was likely then used as a study or archive store until the house was leased for use by Lady Mabel College in 1949.
Comprehensive external repairs were carried out by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust (WWPT), which completed in June 2022 and earlier ideas to utilise all three storeys of both the Pavilion and Quadrant were discounted, judged to be too invasive.
Plans, which also require Listed Building Consent, show the upper chamber as a sitting room, the reconfiguration of secondary spaces within the South Quadrant to provide a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, and the integration of sustainability measures to improve thermal performance and energy efficiency.
Wentworth Woodhouse website
Landmark Trust website
Images: Wentworth Woodhouse / Donald Insall Architects
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