Wentworth Castle

Wentworth Castle stands on a gentle rise above the Dearne valley near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. The house began as a smaller property called Stainborough when Thomas Wentworth, later the first Earl of Strafford, bought it in 1708. He enlarged the building and changed its name to Wentworth Castle in 1731. The estate also contains Stainborough Castle, a sham ruin built as a garden folly in the early 18th century. Today the castle belongs to Northern College, which uses it for residential courses. The surrounding parkland stretches across former farmland now planted with avenues and open lawns. The house reflects two major building campaigns led by the first and second earls. The first earl employed military architect Johann von Bodt to design the east front in a grand Baroque style. He filled the interior with a 180-foot-long gallery designed by James Gibbs, lined with marble columns and copies of Roman sculptures. Nikolaus Pevsner praised the east range as unusually palatial for England. The first earl also created formal gardens with parterres, allées and an obelisk to Queen Anne. Later the second earl swept away much of this formality in favour of a naturalistic landscape. Visitors now walk through the parkland and see the restored Baroque façade and the sham castle on the skyline. The grand gallery survives inside the house, its high ceiling divided into three bays by Corinthian columns. Formal terraces descend to gravelled avenues that once framed views of the wider estate. The sham castle, rebuilt in 1730, stands on rising ground as a reminder of the first earl’s taste for theatrical ruins. The open parkland offers long views across the valley towards the Pennines.