Wortley Hall, Sheffield.

[Nigel Womersle]

It's in good condition now but was no so half a century ago. It was the former country seat of the Earls of Wharncliffe. The Earldom still exists but the hall passed out of their ownership due to the improvidence of the previous earl and was ironically then converted to use as a venue for working-class functions.

The lodge on top of Wharncliffe Edge was, I believe, the former hunting lodge of the earls. It was supposed to be an ancestor of the family, More of More Hall, who despatched the Dragon of Wantley over by Wharncliffe Edge. The name itself is of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning the cliff where querns (hand-mills for making flour) were quarried, like other Wharn- or Quern-names.

 

Incidentally, it was from this family that the famous 18th-century blue-stocking, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, came. I can't say what the Earls are up to now...sic transit gloria mundi...

 

See also http://www.answers.com/topic/earl-of-wharncliffe

http://www.wortleyhall.com/history.php

 

When the former Earl (of jazz band fame) died in 1987, the title passed to an American (Richard Wortley), who still lives in the states, in Maine. I remember the former Earl and Countess losing a daughter, Lady Joanna, in a car crash in 1981. What a tragedy. My neighbours knew the Countess, and always said what a pleasant person she was to talk to. I have been to Wortley Hall, and seem to remember a tree growing out of the floor in (I believe) the dining room. Can someone put me right on this please?

[barbiegirl80]

I vaguely remember something my Dad told me a while ago, about HIS Dad (my Grandad) having something to do with Wortley Hall. In fact, I went to a wedding there a couple of years ago and he said the room which the marriage actually took place in should have some sort of a plaque on the wall which described why.. Think my Grandad was in engineering or something..

[Tony]

I wonder if they make a profit these days.

[suzieq]

My gran used to go to Wortley Hall every year for her annual holiday, she loved the place !!

She died 5 years ago, but we recently went to view the place for a wedding and reception

the changes made there since my grannies visits are immense,changes are afoot

 

Suzieq

[Longcol]

I remember going once in the early '60's. My uncle was a Doncaster councillor, ex - Ruskin College, had been on Brain of Britain, and was tipped to be a future big noise in the Labour Party.

 

He needed a lift to a conference there so my dad, the only one in the family with a car at the time, took him and I went along for the ride. All I remember was that in the hall there was a "hidden" room behind a bookcase.

[dave.stan]

There was a further share issue in the 70s. There was a scare that the shares may fall into the wrong hands and so another round up of the faithfull began. As I remember it George Caborn was, again, the driving force behind it. At the time I was on the AUEW district committee and most if not all of us bought shares. Would you dare to ask George what the expected dividend would be?

I went to the wedding of a friend there about four years ago and the place realy is stunning. The ceiling in the main hall has been done in the same design as it was originaly, superb.