Wentworth Castle Study Day

After being embroiled in the massive development plans for the south of England, and my patch in Hertfordshire in particular, it was a breath of fresh air to travel north to find a little miracle. Not only has Wentworth Castle survived in industrial South Yorkshire but it has found doughty champions in the form of the Wentworth Castle Trust.

Their exemplary restoration of the landscape should hearten all those of us who feel that we are fighting a mighty battle for preservation of our historic landscapes. They are fighting and winning.

The day the YGT organised was the usual format of talks in the morning and landscape walks after lunch. And it didn't rain on our parade - first miracle. And parade it was, though not up to military standards. Walking this formal garden with its Union Jack wilderness and formal vistas was an object lesson in how to respond to the ravages of time and accommodate the needs of a modern garden with its 12 month opening period, without compromising the design intent. Everyone was impressed, firstly with the depth of knowledge our guide, Jane Furse, possessed and then with the system of restoring the landscape as and when funds become available so we saw the very high standard of the consolidation of Stainborough Castle - rather more ruined than when Strafford built it. This was contrasted with the little gem of a Gun Room which has had an equally high standard of restoration outside but inside still awaits sufficient funds for internal treatment so has been made safe but no more

There was not time to do more than view the park from the mansion so a return visit to Barnsley beckons to explore the temples, obelisks and views and, not least, to see the progress on the restoration of the gardens.

The AGT's thanks go to YGT and especially Jane Furse for the organisation of this Study Day. If and when the Wentworth Castle team finally finish the restoration, I can think of many more sites which would benefit from their can-do approach backed by meticulous research and deep understanding.

Wentworth Castle Study Day

This followed a fascinating morning with 4 excellent speakers: Jane on the 18^th Century, Erika Petersen from Hilary Taylor Landscape Associates on the Victorian development, Liz Smith, the Archivist, on the 20^th century archives and interpretation and Patrick Eyres on the political connections which are as interesting as those better-known ones at Stowe. The talks were held in the beautifully converted church and not only did we have oodles of information and illuminating images to digest, we had some audio clips from interviews with people who had worked on the estate in the early 20^th century. I particularly like the South Yorkshire woman who found a North Yorkshire accent difficult to understand - how would she have managed with Estuary English!

Association of Gardens Trusts/Yorkshire Gardens Trust 15 May 2008

Website links

Wentworth Castle: http://www.wentworth castle.org

Hilary Taylor Landscape Associates: http://www.htla.co.uk/wentworthcastle.htm

Kate Harwood

AGT Administrator