Woolley Hall

Woolley Hall, Woolley, West Yorkshire, England, belonged to the Woodrove family, (or Woodroffe/Woodruff; from ‘wood-reeve’) who have owned land in the West Yorkshire village as far back as the year 1377, for over one hundred years. The Hall was significantly changed towards the end of the 15th century, probably by Sir Richard Woodroffe, when he purchased the land from the Rilston family in 1490.

Overview

The initial house or hall is first documented as owned by the Popeley family of whom Robert Popeley was the last to reside and on his death he passed the building down to his only daughter Christine. Christine married into the Rilston family and the Hall remained with this line through four generations to her great grandson Robert Rilston, the son of Edmund. In around 1490, for unknown reasons, Robert sold Woolley Hall to Sir Richard Woodroffe.

Sir Richard Woodroffe (c.1440 - d.1522) was the High Sherif of York between 1510 and 1518, and one of the last members of the Woodroffe/Woodruff family to reside in the Hall. In 1559, Francis Woodroffe, was forced to sell the house to his cousin Michael Wentworth the great-great-grandson of Sir Richard Woodroffe and descendent of Sir Thomas Wentworth (aka Golden Thomas) the great grandfather of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Stafford, for £6000, the equivalent of nearly £1,200,000 today. Francis was the brother of Richard Woodroffe who married Elizabeth Percy the daughter of the infamous Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland one of the two ring leaders of the Rising of the North.

The present building in Woolley, is an example of early Jacobean architecture, and was built about 1635 and added onto at the turn of the 19th Century by the architect Jeffry Wyatville.

It stands in the village of Woolley near the M1 Motorway, and after serving the Wentworth family into the 18th Century was for a period a college, and is presently owned by Wakefield council who use it as a conference centre and wedding location.

References

* "The Manor and Church of Woolley"," J. W. Walker
* "Woolley Hall; the Historical Development of a country house"," Geoffrey Markham

External links

* [http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/CultureAndLeisure/CommunityFacilities/WoolleyHall/default.htm Wakefield Council Web Page on Woolley Hall]