| Description | Site of Whitley Hall and associated former park.
Site of Whitley Hall plus former park (at least late 18th onwards, possibly growing in size?) It has now been ascertained that much of the park area was opencast post war and the area of concern for further evaluation is now therefore limited to one park type feature (a mid 18th century temple or belvedere (now ruined), PRN 10693) and to the hall site; the latter may have been partly intruded upon by the opencast and this should be checked in detail if a need for further work arises. WYAS to assess further (with particular reference to exact area of open casting) if threatened.
Whitley Beaumont is described in Waterson, E. and Meadows, P. 1998. 'Lost Houses of the West Riding' (pages 52 53). The text is summarised below:
The Beaumonts lived at Whitley Beaumont from the 13th century. The hall was rebuilt about 1560 with a great hall flanked by two wings forming a courtyard. In 1680 Richard Beaumont obtained plans from Thomas Mann of York for a new range to close the court yard. This was not begun until 1704. The new front of the house was sturdy and baroque, with a centrepiece of a pedimented doorcase with a window above with scrolled decoration of the frame, all enclosed in giant pilasters and a segmental pediment. The inner face of the new range had a stone arcade connecting the rooms around the courtyard. James Paine remodelled the great hall for his brother in law Richard Beaumont in Rococo style c.1752 54. He probably designed garden buildings also, including the now ruinous gazebo or summerhouse on a hill near the house (see PRN 10693). Capability Brown probably landscaped the grounds in the 1760s and 1780s.
Whitley Beaumont's fittings were sold at auction in 1917. Charles E. Sutcliffe bought the house in 1924, but did not live there regularly. It gradually fell into disrepair. T. Reginald Sutcliffe inherited but sold it in 1950 to Bradford and Leeds Properties Syndicate who split up the estate. The hall was bought for £2,500 by James Warne of Warnegate Products, Halifax, with the intention of demolishing it. Demolition began in late 1950. The park had been requisitioned by the Ministry of Fuel in 1947 for open cast coal mining.
WYAS archives holds copies of photographic prints Whitley taken prior to demolition (Anon. and undated. ‘Kirkheaton. Whitley Hall’).
A history of Whitley Hall and the Beaumont family can be found in the Tolson, L. 1929. ‘Kirkheaton’. Pages 116 123). WYAAS archives holds a copy of this text. |