Brodsworth Hall, near Brodsworth

Brodsworth

Brodsworth is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, situated about five miles north-west of Doncaster...

, five miles north-west of Doncaster

Doncaster

Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

 in South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

 is one of the most complete surviving examples of a Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 country house in England, and is virtually unchanged since the 1860s. It was designed by a 26 year old London architect Philip Wilkinson.
Brodsworth Hall was originally a grand residence for Charles Sabine Augustus Thellusson, who inherited the estate in 1859.
The house has over 30 rooms, ranging from grand reception rooms with original furnishings to the servants' quarters.
The house is surrounded by Victorian period gardens which are used for special events throughout the summer.

After the First World War spiralling costs meant that parts of the house were closed down, and the hall started to fall into decay, until English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 took over.

The last resident of the house was Sylvia Grant-Dalton (wife of a descendant of Charles Sabine Augustus Thellusson), who fought a losing battle against mining subsidence and leaking roofs for 57 years. After her death in 1988, English Heritage made the decision to conserve the interiors "as found" rather than replacing or restoring them, recounting the tale of how a once opulent Victorian house grew comfortably old and inviting to all. It took the decision to conserve rather than restore the house.

The third wife of the last owner, whose second wife was the last family member, lives within the grounds in a house built for the head gardener.

Woodlands

Woodlands, South Yorkshire

Woodlands is a model village, 3 miles north of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It was designed and built in the early 20th century by Percy Bond Houfton as tied cottages for the miners of the neighbouring Brodsworth Colliery...

 model village

Model village

A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, in most cases built from the late eighteenth century onwards by industrialists to house their workers...

 was built for the miners at Brodsworth Colliery

Brodsworth Colliery

Brodsworth Colliery was a colliery near Woodlands, South Yorkshire, England that closed in 1990. It was renowned for the superb model village of Woodlands that housed its workers...

by Lord Markham who sank the pit in 1905. The Thellusson family, who leased the land and mineral rights to the colliery company, built All Saints Church for the village.

External links

• Visitor information