Wentworth Woodhouse, Rotherham, Yorkshire

Shortlisted for our new Best Loved Award in the public category, efforts to rescue of one of England's largest country houses is an extraordinary story. 

Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust has taken on what, by any standards would be a monumental task – the repair and care of this enormous Grade I listed country house. For courage and ambition alone, the Trust and its community deserves huge credit.  The Grade I listed building has more than 300 rooms, and is surrounded by an estate of 15,000 acres. 

A lack of past maintenance, at roof level, has clearly contributed to the development of serious defects inside the 18th-century building.  Despite the size and scale of the roofs – covering some 3 acres – the Trust’s exemplary interventions to prevent serious water penetration in the future via blocked gutters and downpipes, exemplifies one of the SPAB’s core messages: maintenance, maintenance and more maintenance. 

Exceptional thought by the maintenance team has gone into the design of a range of interventions at hopper heads and eaves gutters, all designed to do just that.   

The Bedlam Wing gutter, fitted with mesh down its entire length. Credit: WWPT.

Also impressive is the repair, within two years, of approximately 60% of the buildings’ roofs, along with ornate stonework (rooftop statues, urns, balusters and failing cornicing) along the eastern elevation, and 20% per cent of roofs at the stables. 

A dedicated team of 8-10 volunteers within a larger Maintenance Team that spends 250 hours on this work each week, proves the community’s ongoing commitment to and undoubted love of this building.