Wentworth family of Woolley Hall Yorkshire, Archive

Wentworth - Woolley Hall

Wentworth family of Woolley Hall Yorkshire, Archive

14th century-20th century

The Brotherton Library holds on deposit a considerable collection of documents and maps relating to the Wentworth family of Woolley and its estates. This branch of the Wentworth family had its seat at Woolley Hall, about five miles south of Wakefield.

In 1947, Woolley Hall was sold to the West Riding County Council. It was used as a college of further education for a while. Wakefield Council owned the building until 2015. During the Council's period of ownership it also served as a conference centre and wedding location. The Hall now belongs to a private developer.

The papers in the Brotherton Library are known as the Wentworth-Woolley Hall papers to distinguish them from the Wentworth-Woodhouse collection in Sheffield City Libraries. The Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society also holds a considerable collection of Wentworth -Woolley Hall documents, mainly medieval.

To help enquirers interested in the Wentworth family and the Woolley area, it was decided that it would be useful to replace the brief list made at the time of deposit with one which would give users an indication of the amount and type of material in each box. Although two separate deposits were made by Commander Wentworth, in 1946 and 1949, the boxes are numbered consecutively, in one sequence, 1-74.

<p>They are known as the Wentworth-Woolley Hall papers to distinguish them from the Wentworth-Woodhouse collection in Sheffield City Libraries. (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society also holds a considerable collection of Wentworth -Woolley Hall documents, mainly medieval.)</p>

English

89 boxes

Access to this material is unrestricted.

MS. Deposit 1946/1; 1949/1

Although two separate deposits were made by Commander Wentworth, in 1946 and 1949, the boxes are numbered consecutively, in one sequence, 1-74. Nos. 1-20 were deposited in 1946, and the remainder in 1949.

The Wentworths were one of the most prominent land-owning families in Yorkshire. Sir Thomas Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse married Beatrice Woodrove of Woolley, near Wakefield in ca.1514, but a branch of the family was established at Woolley in 1599, when Michael Wentworth purchased an estate from Francis Woodruffe (or Woodrove), whose family had owned land there since the fourteenth century. Woolley Hall is a Jacobean building, dating from 1635, with many later alterations. The surrounding landscape park is largely unchanged since 1800, and includes wooded pleasure grounds.