Woolley Hall
WOOLLEY HALL
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1135534
- Date first listed:
- 14-Feb-1952
- List Entry Name:
- Woolley Hall
- Statutory Address:
- WOOLLEY HALL
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2004-05-06
- Reference:
- IOE01/12159/20
- Rights:
- © Mr Malcolm S Firth. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1135534
- Date first listed:
- 14-Feb-1952
- List Entry Name:
- Woolley Hall
- Statutory Address 1:
- WOOLLEY HALL
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- WOOLLEY HALL
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Wakefield (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Woolley
- National Grid Reference:
- SE 32710 13096
Details
SE 3212 and SE 3213 WOOLLEY WOOLLEY PARK
1666/7/141 Woolley Hall
14.2.52
GV II*
Large country-house, now residential college. c1675 with later C17 and C18 additions. Hammer-dressed stone, ashlar dressings, stone slate roof. H-shaped house c1635 with added east wing mid C18 later extended c1800 when rear projecting bay, new entrance porch and service ranges to east were added. 2 storeys with basement and attics and 3 storeys. South entrance front: quoins. Deeply indented facade has 5 main elements: ABCBA. A, set forward from B, has single bay of C19 sash windows with plain stone surrounds with 4-light flat-faced mullioned window to basement; B, set forward from C, has 2 bays of C18 sash windows with plain stone surrounds. Continuous dripcourse. A and B have shaped coped gables with spike finials and 2-light double-chamfered mullioned attic windows to apex. C: 3 bays, central doorway with Gibbs surround, windows either side altered to French windows. Open porch, c1800, has balustraded balcony carried on 2 pilasters; sash windows to 1st-floor, embattled parapet. Added to right of east wing c1800, 7-bay 3-storey extension with sash windows. Rear (North front): central full-height 3-storey canted bay with tall arched sash windows to ground floor and rectangular sashes above. Flanking wings have tripartite sash with plain sashes above to 3 floors. Linking embattled parapet. Outer wings have single bay of sash windows to each floor and shaped gables. Left-hand return, (West front): 9-bay facade, central 3 bays breaking forward under shaped gable with an achievement of arms. 1st three bays mid C18. All have sash windows. Embattled parapet. Right-hand return: (East front) U-shaped. Central block and gabled wing to left retain C17 fenestration with some windows with double-chamfered surrounds, mullioned originally now with small-paned sashes. C17 attic dormer has coped gable and finial. Interior: largely remodelled 1807. Large open stair-hall to designs by Charles Watson executed by Thomas Shuttleworth c1807-8; C18 Neo-Classical fireplace probably moved from library, has engaged Roman Ionic columns, frieze with carved tablet decorated with arts of reading; 5 doorways leading off have architraves and 6-panel mahogany doors with astragal mouldings; imperial staircase supported on Tuscan columns and Ionic columns at 1st floor, cantilevered wooden stair, cast-iron balustrade and ramped handrail. Former dining room has Neo-Classical fireplace, possibly from Hickleton Hall (information Peter Brears), apsidal end with 3 elliptical-headed windows and panelled surround; paired doorways at opposite end have carved frieze and cornice of great similarity to ones at Bretton Hall (q.v.) by John Carr; Edwardian plaster ceiling. Library has fireplace with eared surround. Billiard room has C18 fireplace with fluted frieze decorated with urns. Drawing room: c1807; dado, door and window architraves have chain decoration; double mahogany doors; fireplace has fluted Doric columns and steel and brass fittings. Formerly decorated with wall paintings by Agostino Agio. Roof: 4-bay hall has king-post roof; East wing has 6-bay notched-collar truss roof.
The seat of the Wentworths.
Buck (p135) illustrates the house c1720 substantially as it is today; facsimile Samuel Buck's Yorkshire Sketchbook, Wakefield (1979). Authoratively discussed by George Markham, Woolley Hall, The Historical Development of a Country House, Wakefield 1979. Pevsner, Yorkshire West Riding (1974) p558. D. Linstrum, West Yorkshire Architects and Architects (1978), p47-49.
Listing NGR: SE3271013096
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 342446
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Linstrum, D, West Yorkshire Architects and Architecture, (1978), 47-49
Markham, G, The Historical Development of a Country House, (1979)
Hall, I, Samuel Bucks Yorkshire Sketch Book, (1979), 135
Pevsner, N, Radcliffe, E, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The West Riding, (1967), 558
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 05-Jun-2026 at 20:48:12.
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