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Wentworth House, Yorkshire, England. Further historical information.

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WENTWORTH HOUSE

WENTWORTH HOUSE, (or Wentworth Woodhouse) the seats of Earl Fitzwilliam, and Right Hon. Lord Viscount Milton, in the township of Wentworth and parish of Wath upon Dearne, upper-division of Strafforth and Tickhill.

Wentworth House, anciently called Woodhouse. Ralph de Woodhouse, according to Drake, gave one moiety of Woodhouse to St. Leonard's Hospital, York. It was afterwards by intermarriages with the Wentworth family, called Wentworth Woodhouse. Wm. Wentworth, Earl of Strafforth, on his monument in York Minster, is styled Baron of Wentworth Woodhouse. This nobleman devised the ancient estate of the Wentworth family, to his nephew, the Hon. Thomas Watson Wentworth, third son of Edward, Lord Rockingham, grandfather of the late Marquis of Rockingham, from whom these estates descended to the present noble possessor, Earl Fitzwilliam.

The superb and much admired mansion of Earl Fitzwilliam, was rebuilt by Thomas, the first Marquis of Rockingham, who was made Knight of the Bath, by George I., and advanced to the Peerage in the succeeding reign. He died in 1750. It consists of an irregular quadrangle, inclosing three courts, with two grand fronts. A noble portico in front, is supported by six magnificent corinthian columns. The arms of the Marquis of Rockingham ornament the tympanum, and the following motto, so appropriate to the inflexible integrity and incorruptible virtue of the late Marquis, runs along the entablature, "MEA GLORIA FIDES."

Many of the apartments are extremely elegant, especially the Hall and the Gallery; the former of which is 60 feet square, and 40 feet high, with a gallery which runs round the whole. It is supported by 18 fluted pillars of the Ionic order, the shafts of Sienna, with the bases and capitals of white marble, the intervening niches are ornamented with some precious marble statues, and over them are medallions from the designs of Athenian Stuart. The grandeur of its dimensions, the justness of its proportions, the taste of its decorations, and the beauty of its contents, give this room an advantage over every room of the kind. The Gallery is 130 feet long, by 18 feet wide. The Library is 60 feet by 20, in which is a good collection of books; "but," says Mr. Dibdin, in his Bibliographical Decameron, "it is difficult to know what it contains, from the unbibilographical manner in which the titles of the books are described in the ancient Catalogue." He appears, however, to have met with three Caxtons, viz. First edit. of Chaucer Mirror of the World Doctrynal of Sapience, 1489, besides other early editions. This mansion contains many other splendid apartments, which are adorned with a collection of excellent pictures from the pencils of Guido, Carracci, Titian, Vandyck, Luca Giordano, Poussin, West, &c. A detailed account of the rooms, pictures, statuary, and other ornaments, may be seen in Warner's Tour. In the Chapel, which is square, and simple in its decorations, are some good pictures. The Museum contains several valuable antiques. Every thing without the mansion is consistent with the magnificence and expence which reign within. The Park comprises upwards of 1500 acres, richly clothed with wood, and adorned with spreading waters; many ornamented temples also break in upon the eye at every angle. From out of the bosom of those majestic woods, a graceful Ionic column rears its head; erected by the late Marquis of Rockingham, to commemorate the acquittal of his friend Admiral Keppel. But its chief artificial decoration, is the Mausoleum, of fine free stone, about a mile from the principal front, built by the present Earl Fitzwilliam, in 1788, in honour of his glorious predecessor, the late Marquis of Rockingham, which forms a noble object; it is 90 feet high, and consists of three divisions.

The noble family of Fitzwilliam is of great antiquity, and may be traced to William Fitz Godric, cousin of King Edward the Confessor. His Son, Sir William, distinguished himself at the battle of Hastings, in 1066. And the illustrious family of Wentworth is also of Saxon origin; and in the Church are many monuments of the family during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, but in the last century their remains were deposited in York Minster.
[Description(s) edited from various 19th century sources by Colin Hinson © 2013]