Hickleton Hall is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Georgian

stately home 300px, Oxfordshire.html" ;"title="Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire">Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a To ...

in Hickleton,

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, England, about west of Doncaster. For more than 50 years (until 2012) it was a

Sue Ryder Care Sue Ryder is a British palliative and bereavement support charity based in the United Kingdom. Formed as The Sue Ryder Foundation in 1953 by World War II Special Operations Executive volunteer Sue Ryder, the organisation provides care and supp ...

home. It was being converted to luxury apartments, and is now up for sale again. It was built in 1745–48 of limestone

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

with graduated slate roofs. The main range has a seven-bay frontage with flanking pavilions.

History

In the 16th century a house called Hickleton Palace stood on the site, built for Judge Francis Rodes. The present Hall was built in 1745–1748, just to the south of the original house, designed by the architect James Paine for Godfrey Wentworth of Woolley, near Barnsley, who had bought the estate in about 1730. He had the house extended in about 1775 with the addition of two low wings on either side and a servants wing. He died in 1789 and the Hall was inherited by his grandson, Godfrey Wentworth Armytage, who changed his name to Godfrey Wentworth Wentworth. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Yorkshire The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere o ...

for 1796–1797. When his banking business failed he was forced to sell the property. It was bought in 1828 by

Sir Francis Wood, 2nd Baronet Sir Francis Lindley Wood, 2nd Baronet (16 December 1771 – 31 December 1846), was a Yorkshire landowner and political influencer of the nineteenth century. Born the son of a Royal Navy officer, Wood inherited his uncle's baronetcy in 1795. He ...

Hemsworth Hemsworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire and had a population of 13,311 at the 2001 census, ...

and Garrowby, and on his death in 1846 passed to his son Charles Wood, 3rd Baronet (1800–1885). Charles Wood was MP for

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

, Wareham, Halifax and

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

. He was

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

1846–1852 and created Viscount Halifax in 1866. He died in 1885 at the Hall, which was then inherited by his son Charles Lindley Wood (1839–1934), the 2nd Viscount and on his death by his son, Edward Wood, the 3rd Viscount Halifax, who was

Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...

from 1926 to 1929, Foreign Secretary from 1938 to 1940 and created Earl of Halifax in 1944. In the Second World War the house was the headquarters of I Corps after the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

in May 1940. The Halifax family preferred their estate at Garrowby to Hickleton and in 1947 sold the contents of Hickleton Hall and leased the premises as a girls' school, St Hilda's Church of England school run by members of the

Order of the Holy Paraclete The Order of The Holy Paraclete (OHP) is an Anglican religious congregation. The community began in 1915, when it was founded by Margaret Cope (1886–1961) at the Mother House of St Hilda's Priory, Sneaton Castle, Whitby. A new priory was con ...

Convent). From 1961 to 2012 the hall and the immediate parkland were run by

as a Sue Ryder Home. The house was offered for sale in 2015.

References

Sources and further reading

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External links

Hickleton Hall
official website {{coord, 53.5408, -1.2737, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster Country houses in South Yorkshire Grade II* listed buildings in South Yorkshire Wood family

History

See also

References

Sources and further reading

External links