Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Thursday, 4 February 2016

Wentworth Woodhouse secured


The Times reports today the sale for £7 million of Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire to the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust. This great building has been listed as one of the 50 most endangered buildings in the world, and it is estimated structural repairs costing £42 million are needed that will take 10 to 15 years to complete.

Wentworth Woodhouse

Wentworth Woodhouse

Image:BBC News/Savills
The BBC News website has an illustrated report at Wentworth Woodhouse sold to conservation group for £7m

I posted about this extraordinary house rather over a year ago in Wentworth Woodhouse  and in A view of Wentworth Woodhouse

There are more pictures of the house at https://jonathan-gration.our.dmu.ac.uk/2014/06/27/the-house-with-two-faces-wentworth-woodhouse/

The often troubled history of the Earls Fitzwilliam, the house and the estate during the twentieth century are chronicled in Black Diamonds:The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty by Catherine Bailey ( Viking, 2007 )

If Wentworth Woodhouse's future is now finally secure, and restoration work can begin, then it is very good news for anyone with any interest at all in the history and architectural heritage of the country.


The West Front of Wentworth Woodhouse

Image:jonathan-gration.our.dmu.ac.uk


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