0:00:01 > 0:00:05Our great country houses, the most familiar
0:00:05 > 0:00:09and yet intriguing sights Britain has to offer.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14Standing like sentinels in the landscape.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Hundreds of thousands of us visit them every year,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20but not all are open to the public.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25I've been granted the privileged opportunity to pass through the portals
0:00:25 > 0:00:30of six of our greatest country houses normally hidden from public view.
0:00:32 > 0:00:38They've seen five centuries of British history, up close and personal.
0:00:38 > 0:00:44The families who built these houses played their part in great affairs of state.
0:00:47 > 0:00:53Central to their dreams, the great house, the ultimate status symbol,
0:00:53 > 0:00:57but all too often, also the ultimate money drainer.
0:00:57 > 0:01:05Few of these families went the distance, but their houses did, with their secrets in tact.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09This is their story but it's also our story,
0:01:09 > 0:01:15for these houses offer a guided tour of our nation's hidden history.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38I'm on way to see one of the largest privately owned
0:01:38 > 0:01:39country houses in Europe.
0:01:39 > 0:01:45It's also one of the most secretive. It's been shrouded in mystery for years.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48In fact, I'm heading towards Yorkshire,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and the house is called Wentworth Woodhouse,
0:01:51 > 0:01:56and it's been the centre of intrigue and family feuding
0:01:56 > 0:01:58since it was built in the 18th century.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09But this is more than a story of a family or a building.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12It's a story of the time in the 18th century
0:02:12 > 0:02:17when the country house became a vital cog in the machinery of power...
0:02:21 > 0:02:26..almost an engine of state, designed to dominate the land.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34And the great families that owned these power houses ran the nation.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Wentworth Woodhouse would play a vital role
0:02:39 > 0:02:42in a struggle between two competing parties,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45two royal families,
0:02:45 > 0:02:49indeed, two ideas of just what it meant to be British.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55And the results of this struggle would shape not just the house,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59They would do much to form the modern world,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06a history that still echoes in the corridors of this spectacular building,
0:03:06 > 0:03:12arguably the most artistically breathtaking ever created in Britain.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17A house that, today, is largely forgotten,
0:03:17 > 0:03:22but which was once one of the most important and powerful places on earth.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48The visitors to Wentworth Woodhouse would often take this to be the main house.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53But in fact, the Wentworth Woodhouse is so big, the family that made it, so wealthy,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57that this is just the stable block.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10My word! An incredible piece of architectural theatre.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Just about the biggest classical country house in Britain,
0:04:20 > 0:04:21debated to a degree.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25I mean, so large is this building, so surrounded by myth,
0:04:25 > 0:04:30that it's uncharted territory. Even its actual size, no-one agrees upon.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40I guess the house could never have looked more stunning than today.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45It's like being in St Petersburg, isn't it? In the winter.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Absolutely beautiful.
0:04:52 > 0:04:58Wentworth Woodhouse once sat in the centre of a 19,000 acre estate.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04And the family that created it has roots here, dating back to at least the 13th century.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14The house was built largely between 1724 and 1750.
0:05:16 > 0:05:22The public has never been allowed inside to witness its palatial grandeur,
0:05:22 > 0:05:26most visible in the room I'm heading to now -
0:05:26 > 0:05:28the very heart of Wentworth Woodhouse.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37This is the Marble Hall, absolutely stunning.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41In the 1760s, it was called "the finest room in England"
0:05:41 > 0:05:46And I think it is. Certainly very handsome.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51In its way, it's a hymn to neoclassical civilisation.
0:05:51 > 0:05:57It's also rather surprising to find such a huge room in a private house.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02It measures 60 foot square and rises 40 feet,
0:06:02 > 0:06:08so a very precise cubic proportion. It feels very sculptural.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11It feels rather like an outside space.
0:06:11 > 0:06:18I mean, it's the heart of the home but it's like a square, like a piazza. Strange.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20And of course, for that reason, one can understand why
0:06:20 > 0:06:24naughty children used to roller skate across the marble floor.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28And also, it was in this room in 1912
0:06:28 > 0:06:32that Anna Pavlova danced for George V and Queen Mary.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38What an appropriate event for such a glorious and ostentatious space.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47For two centuries, Wentworth Woodhouse hosted many such royal visits.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51Some drew immense crowds of over 20,000 people.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59But the Gods that raised the family high were ultimately against them,
0:06:59 > 0:07:04and in the 20th century, their glittering life here came to an end.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13They sold the house in 1989, and just over ten years ago,
0:07:13 > 0:07:18it was bought by Clifford Newbold, a retired architect.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23'He's already spent hundreds of thousands of pounds
0:07:23 > 0:07:27'trying to return Wentworth Woodhouse to its former splendour.'
0:07:27 > 0:07:33We wanted a Grade I building, that hadn't been modernised at all
0:07:33 > 0:07:36and we decided that we'd really fallen in love with the place,
0:07:36 > 0:07:42and it's just what we were looking for, just the type of work that we wanted to do,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46and to restore it, and get it back onto its feet again.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49A few days later, after we'd done our completion,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52I came up here to receive the key of the door...
0:07:52 > 0:07:55- The key of the door! I imagine it was pretty...- ..to get in.
0:07:55 > 0:08:01But sure enough I came up here and they presented me with the key of the door.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06You wouldn't believe it, but the key of the door was a simple Yale key.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10For a big place like this! And I was terribly disappointed.
0:08:10 > 0:08:16So when I'd finally taken over, I sorted round the house and what did I find?
0:08:16 > 0:08:18They key of the door.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20That's more like it, isn't it? It's lovely.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22That's more appropriate for a house of this size.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24It's a lovely 18th century key.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26But I've got to say, I'm full of admiration.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30You're talking about buying this house as if it were an average building,
0:08:30 > 0:08:37- but you were actually buying just about the biggest house in Britain. - I know. I know. I know it's big,
0:08:37 > 0:08:45but I felt that I knew I was quite capable of financing it and also doing the work.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47- Where shall we start? - Shall we start down here?
0:08:47 > 0:08:52'The Newbolds are living in one small section of the house, while they restore the rest.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56'They've given me free rein to poke around and explore.'
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Because of Wentworth Woodhouse's sheer scale,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07it really does take time to get to know.
0:09:13 > 0:09:19It's often said to have 365 rooms - one for every day of the year.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25The actual number is closer to 305.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30But so large is the place, no one can seem to agree on the exact figure.
0:09:33 > 0:09:40In the past, some rooms had remarkably specialised functions.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43One was devoted solely to the preparation of candles,
0:09:43 > 0:09:47another to the family barber.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53Linking them were vast stretches of corridor.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56In Victorian times, guests were given confetti
0:09:56 > 0:10:02to lay a trail from their bedroom to dinner, so they could find their way back!
0:10:07 > 0:10:11Photographs from Country Life magazine in 1906
0:10:11 > 0:10:15show the house in its full splendour,
0:10:15 > 0:10:19when its epic scale seemed still to have a purpose,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21a world now vanished.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29This part of the house is extraordinary.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Echoing rooms, emptiness,
0:10:33 > 0:10:37none of the grand furniture you might expect to find
0:10:37 > 0:10:40in a house of this palatial, architectural quality.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Indeed, in this splendid room,
0:10:44 > 0:10:51debris, an air of abandonment, house lost in time in a way.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55Uncanny, other-worldly.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01Wentworth Woodhouse has struggled to find a role in the modern world,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04in part because of its enormous size -
0:11:04 > 0:11:07well over 100,000 square feet.
0:11:08 > 0:11:14Which leads you to ask, just what inflated ambitions produced it in the first place?
0:11:18 > 0:11:24The story begins with one of the bitterest family feuds the country has ever seen...
0:11:27 > 0:11:33..because the house wouldn't exist without a fateful decision taken by one man.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39William Wentworth, the 2nd Earl of Strafford,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43commemorated here alongside his wife in the village church.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Strafford owned the Wentworth Estate.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51But in 1695, he died childless.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56And in an astonishing act for the time, reported even to have shocked the King,
0:11:56 > 0:12:00he disinherited his eldest male heir.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05Incredible. He is the man who made the momentous decision
0:12:05 > 0:12:10to leave Wentworth Woodhouse, his land, his fortune,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14not to the male heir, when he died in 1695,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18but to the third son of his sister.
0:12:18 > 0:12:24But why? We know not why he made this strange and very, I say, provocative decision.
0:12:24 > 0:12:31Did he simply want to give the youngest son of his sister a chance in life?
0:12:31 > 0:12:35It's tremendously moving being here in the presence of the man
0:12:35 > 0:12:38that ultimately made the decision that gave life and birth
0:12:38 > 0:12:43to the creation of one of the most beautiful houses in Britain.
0:12:46 > 0:12:52But the beauty of the house is only matched by the fury of the feud that created it.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56A feud between two cousins, both called Thomas.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01On the one hand, the hot-tempered Thomas Wentworth,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03also known as Lord Raby,
0:13:03 > 0:13:08a diplomat and army officer, outraged by his lost inheritance.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14On the other, one of the luckiest men in the country, Thomas Watson,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17who was gifted this enormous estate.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24The historian Patrick Eyres has studied the feud's every twist and turn.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Can you tell me about the family feud that resulted from
0:13:27 > 0:13:30the disputed inheritance over Wentworth Woodhouse?
0:13:30 > 0:13:35Yes, that ran and ran for half a century, this feud.
0:13:35 > 0:13:36And it outraged Thomas Wentworth
0:13:36 > 0:13:40and he was, you know, apoplectic about it for the rest of his life.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43A bitterness... I mean, it becomes extreme.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Is it true that Lord Raby called the Wentworth family "vermin"?
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Indeed. He instructed his agent to use code names,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53and he said that the principal will be known as vermin.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56And of course what's fascinating is that this rivalry
0:13:56 > 0:13:58becomes expressed dramatically through architecture.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03Absolutely. In fact, the great inheritance of this rivalry is the fact that South Yorkshire
0:14:03 > 0:14:08is awash from these two estates with fantastic architecture, monuments and landscape gardening.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11- One vying with the other? - Absolutely.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17Although Wentworth Woodhouse is the most spectacular product of this rivalry,
0:14:17 > 0:14:22it began five miles away, here at Stainborough.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27When Lord Raby bought this Yorkshire estate,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30he was plotting revenge.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32Livid, not just about losing Wentworth,
0:14:32 > 0:14:37but also that his cousin seemed to be stealing the family name.
0:14:37 > 0:14:44Plain old Thomas Watson had taken to calling himself Watson-Wentworth.
0:14:44 > 0:14:45In retaliation,
0:14:45 > 0:14:51Raby changed the name of the existing house here from Stainborough to Wentworth Castle.
0:14:53 > 0:14:58And then he started, secretly, to buy up land neighbouring the Wentworth Woodhouse Estate.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02This was turf war. If he couldn't inherit Wentworth Woodhouse,
0:15:02 > 0:15:07he was going to certainly overshadow it.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12Part of the strategy to do that was to commission, in 1708, this splendid
0:15:12 > 0:15:14continental-style baroque palace.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Raby, by now, was British ambassador to Prussia.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24And so he showed off by hiring the Prussian court architect.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29And alongside his new home, he built a medieval-style castle,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33a symbol of his family's pedigree.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37It was definitely round one to Lord Raby.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42Thomas Watson-Wentworth backed down.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47But when he died in 1723, his son, also called Thomas,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49upped the stakes dramatically.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55This was a man who'd become the 1st Marquis of Rockingham.
0:15:55 > 0:15:5829-years-old, and already a tough politician,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02he'd long been plotting retaliation,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05and within a year, he began to build.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10The fight back started here.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14But not with this house, with another one.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18Because one of the truly astonishing things about Wentworth Woodhouse
0:16:18 > 0:16:21is that it's not one house,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23but two!
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Hidden behind this, the eastern elevation,
0:16:26 > 0:16:30is another slightly smaller house facing the opposite direction.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42And it was this house that represented the next round
0:16:42 > 0:16:45in this super-sized family feud.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52It's designed in an idiosyncratic baroque style
0:16:52 > 0:16:54and loaded with odd details.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Replacing a Jacobean house on the same site,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Watson-Wentworth wanted something exotic
0:17:04 > 0:17:07to outdo the Prussian baroque of his rival's home.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16And it is a substantial country house in its own right.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Indeed, at many times in Wentworth Woodhouse's history,
0:17:20 > 0:17:24the family's living quarters have been here,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27a practice continued today by the Newbolds.
0:17:28 > 0:17:29Beautiful room.
0:17:31 > 0:17:37I mean, the obvious thing is the astonishing contrast between the west and the east.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44But why, having spent a small fortune on this house,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48did Rockingham start building another right behind it?
0:17:54 > 0:17:58The answer lies in the striking contrast between the two houses.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05It reveals something remarkable about the feud,
0:18:05 > 0:18:10but also about the struggle to define Britain in the 18th century.
0:18:12 > 0:18:17The battle between two political parties that loathed one another with a passion.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21The Whigs and the Tories.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32In 1714, a new king, George I,
0:18:32 > 0:18:34established the German House of Hanover
0:18:34 > 0:18:37as the ruling dynasty in Britain,
0:18:37 > 0:18:39largely through the aid of the Whigs.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44Many Tories were convinced George was an illegitimate usurper.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46But to Whigs like Rockingham,
0:18:46 > 0:18:52the new king was the protector of liberty who would uphold the Bill of Rights of 1689,
0:18:52 > 0:18:56the ground-breaking settlement that created a constitutional monarchy
0:18:56 > 0:19:00by limiting the powers of the crown and safeguarding those of Parliament.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06Rockingham's rival cousin, Lord Raby, was a Tory.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11So the feud responsible for this house echoed a national struggle.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17And the building itself was intended to impress the Whig elite.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22But Rockingham had made an architectural faux-pas.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28Unfortunately, the house was not regarded as a great success.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31One rather stiffy visitor came here,
0:19:31 > 0:19:36indeed, a member of the Whig coterie into which the future Marquis wanted to enter.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38The chap came here, had a good meal, I suppose,
0:19:38 > 0:19:44and then rather sneeringly wrote afterwards that apart from a rather fine library,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47there was little that could be said in praise of the house.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53Rockingham had been planning his new home for almost a decade,
0:19:53 > 0:19:57but he hadn't been keeping up with changing tastes.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00The Whig elite he sought to join had, in that time,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04turned their back on the baroque.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08To them, it was somehow un-English,
0:20:08 > 0:20:12tainted by association with their enemies,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16too European, too catholic, too Tory.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21In terms of style, Rockingham had got it all wrong.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27During the first decades of the 18th century in England,
0:20:27 > 0:20:31there was a battle to establish a dominant national architectural style
0:20:31 > 0:20:35that carried the punch of historic precedent and pedigree,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39and that was thought to reflect national characteristics
0:20:39 > 0:20:41and artistic aspirations.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50The search for a national style had a political agenda.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54With their king on the throne, the Whigs were in the ascendant.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59Now they wanted to dictate not just how the country was ruled
0:20:59 > 0:21:03but to transform the way it looked.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06To impress the Whigs, the future marquis really needed a home
0:21:06 > 0:21:10built in the style they deemed politically correct.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20A style based on the designs of a 16th-century Italian -
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Andrea Palladio -
0:21:23 > 0:21:29perhaps the most influential architect the world has ever known.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34This is the book that revealed and promoted Palladio to the British,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38and did much to make Palladianism the dominant style
0:21:38 > 0:21:41in Britain for much of the 18th century.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44It's Volume I of Vitruvius Britannicus,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48published in 1715 and written by Colin Campbell.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53It's a terrific tome, wonderful inspirational plates here.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57And it was to Campbell's designs that Rockingham turned
0:21:57 > 0:22:02when he decided he simply had to build a second new house.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08Today, when we value artistic novelty and originality,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12it's hard to think of copying as being creative.
0:22:12 > 0:22:18But the Palladians, well, they were suspicious of wilful originality.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22They believed Palladio had provided a prototype,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24a format for perfection in architecture.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26All you had to do was indeed copy it,
0:22:26 > 0:22:30maybe slightly creatively tweak it a bit, but essentially reproduce
0:22:30 > 0:22:34the basic designs that Palladio had produced himself.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37In front of me is a design for Wanstead House in Essex.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41Here we have it, the essential composition with a central
0:22:41 > 0:22:43pedimented building with wings,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47with these end pavilions.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51What's incredible is that this provides the blueprint,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54as it were, for the design of Wentworth Woodhouse.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Sadly, Wanstead House no longer exists.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04But its legacy lives on at Wentworth.
0:23:04 > 0:23:05By copying a masterpiece,
0:23:05 > 0:23:09Rockingham knew he would avoid another embarrassing blunder.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16All plans were submitted to Lord Burlington, the so-called
0:23:16 > 0:23:19architect earl, a privy counsellor
0:23:19 > 0:23:23and arbiter of taste amongst the Whigs.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Eventually, even the original architect, Ralph Tunnicliffe,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30was replaced by one of Burlington's favourites, Henry Flitcroft.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40Building Wentworth Woodhouse was a staggering undertaking.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46The finest craftsmen worked with the most expensive materials,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48including marble from Sienna in Italy,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51to create Palladian perfection.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Unlike the baroque house, there's a stripped-back majesty,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07everything informed by a near-religious belief in the virtue
0:24:07 > 0:24:09of harmonious proportions,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11as found here in the Marble Hall.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17To understand the magical power of proportion in this room,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19look at the fireplace.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22Apart from being exceptionally handsome, it is,
0:24:22 > 0:24:28in many respects, apparently a normal fireplace, until I get here
0:24:28 > 0:24:32and you see it's well over six-feet high.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34You wouldn't think so, would you?
0:24:34 > 0:24:40So now you appreciate the vast size of this room.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45This entire space is pure Palladio,
0:24:45 > 0:24:50designed using the exact ratio of 3:2,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52the floor plan of 60 feet square,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56determining the ceiling height of 40 feet.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01Just one of Palladio's seven ratios that his disciples believe
0:25:01 > 0:25:04were divinely inspired.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08And this entire side of the house follows equally exacting rules.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13It was deemed a triumph.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17The very man who criticised the baroque side wrote that
0:25:17 > 0:25:21no other house in Europe could boast such magnificent rooms
0:25:21 > 0:25:24so finely proportioned.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39But if the style of Wentworth Woodhouse was deeply political,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42so, too, was its enormous size,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45which had a very practical purpose.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48And a clue to what it was can be found here
0:25:48 > 0:25:51at the City of Sheffield Archives.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53This is a very remarkable book.
0:25:53 > 0:25:59It starts off as an account book or a ledger, rather dry.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04Then, halfway through, only for a few pages,
0:26:04 > 0:26:06it becomes something astonishing.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10It becomes the journal of the 1st Marquis of Rockingham.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16For example, here he gives "a large entertainment to
0:26:16 > 0:26:19"all my tenants in the neighbourhood."
0:26:19 > 0:26:22But then you read on, you discover that this entertainment
0:26:22 > 0:26:28was for no fewer than 1,000 persons.
0:26:28 > 0:26:36You see here that the number of dishes - good heavens - were 225.
0:26:38 > 0:26:39Great Scott!
0:26:39 > 0:26:43"Viz of beef 43, of pork 30, of venison pasty 24,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47"turkeys 15, geese 21, puddings 30,"
0:26:47 > 0:26:50and so it goes on, a vast amount of food
0:26:50 > 0:26:54offered and consumed by all the neighbourhood.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Well, this is an amazing event, isn't it?
0:26:57 > 0:27:01A thousand people - how generous. But it's not just to do with generosity.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03This is how country houses worked.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07This is a man winning the hearts and minds of the electorate.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09This is a wonderful example of how a country house
0:27:09 > 0:27:13was used in the 18th century to influence people -
0:27:13 > 0:27:16be generous and then get them to vote for you.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18And it was successful.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33At this time in Yorkshire, little more than 15,000 men -
0:27:33 > 0:27:35no women - voted.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39With such a tiny electorate, a powerhouse like Wentworth Woodhouse
0:27:39 > 0:27:43could function effectively as an election-winning machine.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49The vast new Palladian house helped Rockingham turn Yorkshire -
0:27:49 > 0:27:55traditionally a Tory county - into something of a Whig stronghold.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00But it wasn't all about politics.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05The house also cemented the family's position in society.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09It helped establish Rockingham and his descendants
0:28:09 > 0:28:12as the most influential family in the county.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17And for over two centuries, the big house fostered
0:28:17 > 0:28:19a sense of loyalty amongst the locals.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25It was the biggest employer in the area
0:28:25 > 0:28:29and the family had a reputation for treating their staff well.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34It's a lost world,
0:28:34 > 0:28:38although some of its traditions survive today.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43And a few people remain with a direct connection to this history.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50I'm here to meet the former head gamekeeper of Wentworth Woodhouse.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53It's Saturday morning, the guns have gathered.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55There's a shoot about to take place.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58They're here to pot pheasant.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01I suppose, of course, men have hunted on these grounds,
0:29:01 > 0:29:03this very spot, for centuries,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07shooting pheasant and rabbits and hare.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10Of course, that's the thing about Wentworth Woodhouse -
0:29:10 > 0:29:12nothing seems to change here.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15The house presides over the landscape.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18All seems settled, as if for eternity.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21GUNSHOTS
0:29:54 > 0:29:59John Ambler was head gamekeeper at Wentworth until he retired in 1999,
0:29:59 > 0:30:04the last of many generations of his family to work here.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06John, how long has your family been involved with
0:30:06 > 0:30:09Wentworth Woodhouse and with the Fitzwilliam family?
0:30:09 > 0:30:11They came in 1808.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Everybody in this area then worked for the family.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18You've got to realise, you see, in them days,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21the big house was the hub of the circle.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25I like to think, from my point of view, with the dealings I had,
0:30:25 > 0:30:27it's not really us and them.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30It's us, it's the family.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32We're all together.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35But it's still, Wentworth Woodhouse, isn't it?
0:30:35 > 0:30:36And it's still there.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40- It's part of English history, that house.- It is, a very important part.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42Especially South Yorkshire history.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45And really it's something for the people of South Yorkshire
0:30:45 > 0:30:47to be proud of, you know.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50Our ancestors were all part and parcel of being here
0:30:50 > 0:30:54because it were a marvellous big estate.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01But if Wentworth Woodhouse won the affections of many, its past is
0:31:01 > 0:31:05equally marked by division and conflict.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10Rockingham's new house quickly found itself on the front line.
0:31:10 > 0:31:15In 1745 there was a huge uprising against King George II,
0:31:15 > 0:31:19led by Jacobites - many of them Tories.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23They supported Bonnie Prince Charlie instead.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26If successful, it would have spelt disaster for Rockingham
0:31:26 > 0:31:31as Lord Lieutenant for the area, the King's personal representative.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37So, in 1745 this would have been a frontier zone, in a sense, wouldn't it?
0:31:37 > 0:31:40The Jacobite armies marched south of here towards Derby.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44This house would have been a bastion of opposition,
0:31:44 > 0:31:49- a military outpost.- Absolutely. - Militias quartered here. - Yes. And as it's the house
0:31:49 > 0:31:54of the Lord Lieutenant of the county, responsible for the defence of the whole of Yorkshire,
0:31:54 > 0:31:56it's an intelligence-gathering centre,
0:31:56 > 0:31:59messengers galloping down to London with information.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01And the point where the volunteer regiments,
0:32:01 > 0:32:03raised as the regulars were abroad in Flanders,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06would have been gathering here to defend the county.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09As we tend to think that history is written by the victors,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12then we forget just how turbulent politics of the early 18th century was,
0:32:12 > 0:32:17especially after 1714 when the Hanoverians were imported with George I.
0:32:17 > 0:32:22Four uprisings, we only hear of two, 1715 and '45.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25And so this was a moment when this major threat
0:32:25 > 0:32:28to the Hanoverian dynasty was now eradicated.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34Ultimately the Jacobite army lost its nerve,
0:32:34 > 0:32:38retreated north and was destroyed, its cause lost forever.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44And his support had boosted Rockingham's standing with the king.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50He had already risen to be a baron, then an earl.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54Now he would be well rewarded for his loyalty to the crown.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01In April 1746, the king made him a marquis,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04something commemorated here on the estate.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12The Hoober Stand is a most peculiar building.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15In its details it's Palladian,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18but in its plan and form, most bizarre.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23The plan is triangular, the form is a truncated pyramid,
0:33:23 > 0:33:28perhaps references to a freemasonry most popular in the 18th century.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30But its purpose is clear.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33It was to celebrate the victory over the Jacobites,
0:33:33 > 0:33:36also to celebrate the elevation of Watson-Wentworth
0:33:36 > 0:33:39into first Marquis of Rockingham.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45And there's a deeply personal footnote to this event.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47By being elevated to marquis,
0:33:47 > 0:33:53Thomas Watson-Wentworth finally eclipsed the family of his cousin and rival,
0:33:53 > 0:33:57who, all those years before, had sought to do his family down.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03But Rockingham didn't enjoy his new found status for long.
0:34:03 > 0:34:09In 1750, a year after the completion of the Hoober Stand, he died.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15It was during the time of his son, the second marquis,
0:34:15 > 0:34:19that Wentworth Woodhouse reached the peak of its political influence.
0:34:22 > 0:34:27The second marquis held true to the Whig ideals of his father,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30but he was also a gambler, art lover,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34horse-racing fanatic and a wily operator.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38Something that propelled him to the highest office in the land.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44In the late 18th century in its heyday,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47this house was one of the most powerful
0:34:47 > 0:34:49and important places in Britain.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53In the 1760s, the second marquis was prime minister.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57You can imagine him sitting here, the whole place exuding power.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02At the same time, vast wealth flowing in.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10The second marquis amassed a fortune from his investments
0:35:10 > 0:35:13and his lands both in Britain and Ireland,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16equivalent to almost 4 billion today.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21Much of this money went on enlarging the estate.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24He left it twice the size that his father had inherited.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Countless thousands also went on the house's interior.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35The second marquis was a softer man than his father.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37He introduced colour,
0:35:37 > 0:35:41warmth and sensual touches like here in the Painted Room,
0:35:41 > 0:35:44a depiction of the five senses.
0:35:45 > 0:35:51It's one of the few places where original artwork remains untouched.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55And elsewhere more sweeping changes,
0:35:55 > 0:35:58such as here in the Whistle Jacket Room.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04This originally was a dining room.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09That's apparent from the decoration of this spectacular fireplace.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12The meaning of the room is sort of embedded in the design.
0:36:12 > 0:36:18Here in the middle of the fireplace is Bacchus, god of wine.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20Another thing about this fireplace
0:36:20 > 0:36:23s that it just is such a high quality piece of work.
0:36:23 > 0:36:28I mean, Wentworth Woodhouse is a great pile, but it's rich,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31so rich in minute and fine detail.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34A tremendous variety, each room really is different.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36It's incredibly satisfying.
0:36:36 > 0:36:37Lovely.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41Then in the 1760s, the room is transformed.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45The great Stubbs portrait, really, of Whistle Jacket,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48the spectacular horse, becomes the centrepiece
0:36:48 > 0:36:51of a re-organisation of the room into a sort of drawing room.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53That sadly is not the original painting.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57That's a photographic reproduction, but it does the job,
0:36:57 > 0:36:58to remind one of what was
0:36:58 > 0:37:01the inspiration for the room in the 1760s.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05The original of the Whistle Jacket,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08perhaps the most famous painting ever made of a horse,
0:37:08 > 0:37:11now hangs in the National Gallery in London.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23And the rest of the house's wonderful art collection has been dispersed.
0:37:26 > 0:37:28Including the celebrated family portraits by Van Dyck.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34And depictions of several of the marquis's other favourite horses,
0:37:34 > 0:37:38also commissioned from George Stubbs.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47The marquis kept over 80 thoroughbreds at Wentworth.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51Some of them, the biggest winners in British racing history.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56The second marquis loved his horses
0:37:56 > 0:38:00as is apparent from the size of his stables.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02Also he loved to gamble.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06He lost money, but more generally he made money.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10One of the great myths of Wentworth Woodhouse is that on one horse,
0:38:10 > 0:38:14Bay Malton, he won enough money to build these stables.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16Well, it's possible.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22The stables, designed by John Carr of York,
0:38:22 > 0:38:25were until very recently the biggest in the land.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31But they weren't the second marquis's only indulgence.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35He loved hunting, socialising and extravagant gestures.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40It's rumoured that one monument on the estate, the Needle's Eye,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44was built as a bet, the marquis intent on proving
0:38:44 > 0:38:48you could drive a horse and cart through a needle's eye.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Something seen here put to the test many years later.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58But if he had a frivolous side,
0:38:58 > 0:39:03a sense of aristocratic duty kept drawing Rockingham back to politics.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07He was a bad public speaker, but a very good operator.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12And for almost two decades, he led the largest group
0:39:12 > 0:39:13of parliamentary Whigs.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20But where his father had been loyal to the throne,
0:39:20 > 0:39:24the second marquis found himself forced to rebel.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32George III had become king in 1760.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34Worryingly to Rockingham,
0:39:34 > 0:39:38he showed every sign of being a Tory-supporting autocrat.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Rockingham, however, was rich and powerful enough
0:39:43 > 0:39:46to feel he could take on the king,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49something he did during two short terms as prime minister
0:39:49 > 0:39:53and by leading the Rockingham Whigs, a powerful opposition group.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00Their supporters included the philosopher Edmund Burke
0:40:00 > 0:40:03and the influential statesman Charles James Fox.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06They fought the king on everything from the power of parliament
0:40:06 > 0:40:09to the right to the American colonies.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12Indeed, Rockingham had a major role in the settlement
0:40:12 > 0:40:15following America's War of Independence.
0:40:17 > 0:40:22He died in 1782, only 14 weeks into his second term in office.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28But his ideals celebrated here at the Rockingham monument lived on,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31shaping politics in both America and Britain,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34where the Whigs eventually became the Liberal Party.
0:40:38 > 0:40:39Oh.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43The monument really is an heroic piece of architecture.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47I love the dome above me, wonderfully delicately detailed.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50It commemorates the life of the second marquis.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54Here he is in front of me, splendid statue.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57His hand raised as if bestowing a blessing
0:40:57 > 0:41:02on the house, which he stands here contemplating for eternity.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07But I suppose more importantly this monument celebrates
0:41:07 > 0:41:09the triumph of Whig values.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14In niches on the walls are busts of various British worthies
0:41:14 > 0:41:16admired by the Whigs.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20There's Edmund Burke and here, Charles James Fox.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24These values remain important and relevant because they did so much
0:41:24 > 0:41:27to shape the world as we know it today.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34Ironically, the success of these progressive values
0:41:34 > 0:41:37would undermine Wentworth Woodhouse's position as a powerhouse.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43The second marquis died childless and the estate passed
0:41:43 > 0:41:46to his nephew, the fourth Earl Fitzwilliam.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53And it was during his time that the great Reform Act
0:41:53 > 0:41:54of 1832 was passed,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57the first step towards votes for all.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01With a bigger electorate,
0:42:01 > 0:42:06the role of large country houses as vote-gathering machines diminished.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13Under the Fitzwilliams, the family lost much of its political clout,
0:42:13 > 0:42:15but they were handed a lifeline
0:42:15 > 0:42:20that kept them at the top of the tree for the next 150 years.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26Britain was changing,
0:42:26 > 0:42:30the Industrial Revolution shifting power
0:42:30 > 0:42:33away from the landed aristocracy to the city.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36But a new source of riches
0:42:36 > 0:42:39seemed to guarantee the fortunes of the family.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43And those riches were right beneath their feet.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51The estates stood astride the immensely rich Barnsley Seam.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55Exploiting the mineral wealth of coal like this,
0:42:55 > 0:42:59secured the family's fortune for generations to come.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05Coal had been worked on the estate on a small scale
0:43:05 > 0:43:07since Elizabethan times.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10But now, powerful, new, steam driven machinery
0:43:10 > 0:43:12industrialised the process.
0:43:14 > 0:43:19In 1795, deep mining began on the Wentworth Estate for the first time.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25At their peak, the family's mines would produce
0:43:25 > 0:43:28over 300,000 tons of coal a year.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35The author Clive Aslet has written extensively
0:43:35 > 0:43:38on the fate of the country house in the 20th century.
0:43:40 > 0:43:41They had coal
0:43:41 > 0:43:45and coal was the thing which made the Industrial Revolution.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48It was why Britain was so prosperous,
0:43:48 > 0:43:50because we had so much of this coal.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53And it was also very important for the Empire.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57Coal drove the ships which were the lifeline of the Empire.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01Through this coal, the wealth of the Fitzwilliams
0:44:01 > 0:44:03practically knew no bounds.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08During the 19th and 20th century, Wentworth Woodhouse played host
0:44:08 > 0:44:14to eight royal visits, evidence of the family's elevated social status.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17And there were many other lavish entertainments.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23When the future Eighth Earl was christened,
0:44:23 > 0:44:27it was on the scale of a coronation.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30A hundred thousand people came to the park.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34But of course, that shows that the Fitzwilliams, in Yorkshire,
0:44:34 > 0:44:38they were really like royalty. That was their life.
0:44:38 > 0:44:44They operated on a plain which was quite different from anybody else,
0:44:44 > 0:44:45really, even then.
0:44:48 > 0:44:53It's said the Fitzwilliams looked after their miners well.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57By the middle of the 19th century, their numbers had grown 20-fold.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02The family built many of them new homes
0:45:02 > 0:45:03in villages on the estate.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07And here too, the Fitzwilliams occasionally flaunted their wealth.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13In the 1870s, when they commissioned a new church for Wentworth,
0:45:13 > 0:45:18it was large enough for a major city, rather than a small village.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25But the source of the family's new riches
0:45:25 > 0:45:27would come back to haunt them.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32The construction of the grand, new parish church
0:45:32 > 0:45:36can be seen as representing the high point of the family's power,
0:45:36 > 0:45:41but the writing was already on the wall.
0:45:41 > 0:45:47In this family vault, there is an atmosphere of foreboding
0:45:47 > 0:45:50of the darkness that was to come.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54As the 20th century progressed, the family's fortunes faltered
0:45:54 > 0:45:59and life at Wentworth Woodhouse was transformed forever.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03The election of a Labour government in 1945
0:46:03 > 0:46:08was one catalyst sparking the family's decline.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12After the war, Britain was desperately short of coal.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16Using emergency powers, the Labour minister, Emanuel Shinwell,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19ordered land at Wentworth be ripped open
0:46:19 > 0:46:24to strip as much coal out of the ground as quickly as possible.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28Local miners, whose families enjoyed using the parkland
0:46:28 > 0:46:31surrounding the house, were horrified.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34Even Joe Hall, president of the Yorkshire branch
0:46:34 > 0:46:38of the National Union of Mineworkers, objected.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42Joe Hall wrote a letter to the prime minister, Clement Attlee,
0:46:42 > 0:46:46about the proposed mining scheme here at Wentworth Woodhouse.
0:46:46 > 0:46:48I have a copy of the letter in front of me.
0:46:48 > 0:46:53It's dated the 8th of April, 1946.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55"Dear Mr Prime Minister...
0:46:57 > 0:46:59"My purpose in writing to you
0:46:59 > 0:47:03"is to vigorously protest against a scheme
0:47:03 > 0:47:08"which is about to be operated at Wentworth near Rotherham."
0:47:08 > 0:47:10It goes on,
0:47:10 > 0:47:15"I make this personal appeal to you to do all in your power
0:47:15 > 0:47:18"to prevent what can only be described as vandalism."
0:47:20 > 0:47:25To add to the outrage, miners like Joe Hall knew strip mining
0:47:25 > 0:47:29would only gather poor quality coal near the surface.
0:47:29 > 0:47:34But later that same month, Manny Shinwell sent in the heavy machinery.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38They quarried 98 acres,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42destroying parkland, some designed by Humphry Repton,
0:47:42 > 0:47:46the famous landscape gardener, more than 150 years earlier.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53Bob Mortimer used to be the head carpenter at Wentworth.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56He was a child when the diggers went in.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00Before you worked on the estate with the Fitzwilliams, you were from here, I presume?
0:48:00 > 0:48:01Yes.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05Do you have much memory of the open cast mining
0:48:05 > 0:48:07- and the disruption and destruction? - Oh, yeah, yeah.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11Manny Shinwell. Yeah. Oof, yeah.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13What's your view about all of that?
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Well, I'm on camera now and I don't want to swear.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20Because he destroyed a lot, he did. You couldn't do nothing about it.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24Yeah, he destroyed a lot in Wentworth. A lot of good land.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Because now we've got all clay land, you see.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29It brought all that rubbish to the top.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33But what did the village feel, seeing this destruction of beauty,
0:48:33 > 0:48:36the landscape, the house itself, threatened with obliteration?
0:48:36 > 0:48:40I should imagine they were very sad to see it come that close to the house,
0:48:40 > 0:48:42both principal front and back front,
0:48:42 > 0:48:45because it were practically up to each door.
0:48:45 > 0:48:50The poor quality of the coal has led to suggestions
0:48:50 > 0:48:53that this mining was an act of revenge -
0:48:53 > 0:48:57Manny Shinwell wanting to show this filthy rich family
0:48:57 > 0:48:58who was the boss.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06Roy Young is the author of a book about the house.
0:49:06 > 0:49:10I must say, the images I've seen of these slag heaps
0:49:10 > 0:49:12within yards of the house...
0:49:12 > 0:49:14Some people would term it the rape of Wentworth.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18Here's one. Now there's the house.
0:49:18 > 0:49:19There's the stables.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23They've gone right up to the gravel in front of the house.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25It's incredible.
0:49:25 > 0:49:2616 feet from the step, back and front.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31And this slag heap mounting nearer and nearer, higher and higher... Good grief.
0:49:31 > 0:49:38Then on January the 1st, 1947, came a still more dramatic event.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41Britain's collieries were nationalised.
0:49:42 > 0:49:48The massive revenues which had sustained Wentworth Woodhouse were history.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52And overnight, instead of having thousands working for them
0:49:52 > 0:49:54on the estate and in the mines,
0:49:54 > 0:49:57the family was left with a staff of just seven.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07By the time of Peter, the eighth Earl,
0:50:07 > 0:50:10the family had retreated to the Baroque house,
0:50:10 > 0:50:14the rest having been occupied by the army during the war.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18And now it seemed they'd never again enjoy their home
0:50:18 > 0:50:20as their ancestors had.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23Outside, their land was being ripped apart.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25Inside, they were in retreat.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30And then human tragedy struck.
0:50:40 > 0:50:46This is the grave of Peter the Eighth Earl Fitzwilliam.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49He died in a plane crash in France,
0:50:49 > 0:50:52in 1948, it says here.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55Killed flying, 1948.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00He was only 37 years old at the time
0:51:00 > 0:51:05and 1948 was a year after the Fitzwilliam coal mines
0:51:05 > 0:51:07had been nationalised.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11With hindsight, one can see the death of Peter
0:51:11 > 0:51:13as marking the beginning of the end
0:51:13 > 0:51:16of the Fitzwilliams at Wentworth Woodhouse,
0:51:16 > 0:51:20and indeed, the end of the house
0:51:20 > 0:51:23as the vibrant heart of the community.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34'Another victim of the crash was the Marchioness of Hartington,'
0:51:34 > 0:51:39Kick Kennedy, sister of the future American president.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42She and Peter had been having an affair.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46Both families were terrified the scandal would break
0:51:46 > 0:51:49but the newspapers reported that a chance invite to France
0:51:49 > 0:51:53had brought the two together, rather than the real reason.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01The Fitzwilliams' fortunes were clearly on the slide.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04The crash meant paying huge death duties,
0:52:04 > 0:52:08something they'd already faced just five years earlier,
0:52:08 > 0:52:10when Peter's father died.
0:52:13 > 0:52:18In 1948, Christie's sold off hundreds of items from Wentworth
0:52:18 > 0:52:22at one of the earliest of the great country house auctions.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26The family's grip on the house was slipping away.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29They leased much of Wentworth to the local council
0:52:29 > 0:52:32to ease the financial burden.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37The Palladian house became a PE college,
0:52:37 > 0:52:42and instead of being celebrated as one of the finest rooms in England,
0:52:42 > 0:52:46the marble hall was turned into a gymnasium.
0:52:51 > 0:52:58Finally, in 1989, the family sold the remaining interest in the house.
0:53:01 > 0:53:06What did you feel when, in the end, they had to sell and move
0:53:06 > 0:53:09and leave the house to its fate almost?
0:53:09 > 0:53:12Well, looking at it from my point of view,
0:53:12 > 0:53:13I mean, a bad day for me.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16As I say, we were brought up in an era
0:53:16 > 0:53:19when the big house was the hub of the circle.
0:53:19 > 0:53:24And then to lose that, you know, you think, "Oh, dear.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27"What's going to happen?
0:53:28 > 0:53:30"What could happen?"
0:53:30 > 0:53:33But on a morning, I come into the park,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36the big house is still there.
0:53:37 > 0:53:43But in reality, Wentworth Woodhouse is only just clinging on.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46The new owners are battling decades of neglect
0:53:46 > 0:53:49and other potentially more serious problems.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55Here in the library, it's clear all is not well.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59This library door,
0:53:59 > 0:54:02the handles are clearly out of kilter.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04Look at the bottom.
0:54:04 > 0:54:05Ooh, dear.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07Not aligned.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11And above me in the ceiling, some quite major cracks.
0:54:11 > 0:54:16Of course, you know, all houses move, they all settle,
0:54:16 > 0:54:18but these are rather substantial
0:54:18 > 0:54:25and altogether really a clue that something is not right.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34'And the damage in the library is merely the tip of the iceberg.'
0:54:39 > 0:54:43Here the trouble is more serious, or certainly more obvious.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46The ceiling's collapsed, damp's getting through.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49On the floor, a pile of plaster,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52wonderful black and white marble floor.
0:54:52 > 0:54:57This is a wonderful room. It's a chapel. In front of me
0:54:57 > 0:55:01is a sensational, massive, Venetian window,
0:55:01 > 0:55:03full of early crown glass,
0:55:03 > 0:55:05sparkling and wobbling.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09An incredibly good room, I say,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12but, very obviously in trouble.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20In fact, whole sections of Wentworth Woodhouse are under threat,
0:55:20 > 0:55:24suffering not only from general decay,
0:55:24 > 0:55:26but subsidence as well.
0:55:32 > 0:55:37The Newbolds paid £1.5 million for Wentworth,
0:55:37 > 0:55:42the low price reflecting the extensive restoration work required.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47What is your vision, the future for the house? How do you see it going forward?
0:55:47 > 0:55:51What we want to do is to try and get it financially safe,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54by getting income in from somewhere.
0:55:54 > 0:55:59And they've done it in Chatsworth and in Blenheim Palace,
0:55:59 > 0:56:03and we see no reason why we shouldn't do the same thing for South Yorkshire here.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08And we've got ideas on how we can use the place
0:56:08 > 0:56:10for restaurants and open it up
0:56:10 > 0:56:13a little bit to the public to come and see.
0:56:13 > 0:56:18But we want to get the whole of the structure really firm
0:56:18 > 0:56:22and in good condition before we make up our final minds about it.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27But the Newbolds claim that the subsidence affecting the house
0:56:27 > 0:56:31has dramatically worsened in recent years.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35They believe this is due to the open cast and deep mining
0:56:35 > 0:56:38around the house in the preceding decades.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42There's an ongoing legal dispute with the coal authority
0:56:42 > 0:56:44which will seek to determine if these cracks
0:56:44 > 0:56:46are the direct result of mining
0:56:46 > 0:56:49and if so, to what extent the Newbolds should be compensated
0:56:49 > 0:56:53for the expensive repairs needed to restore the house.
0:57:02 > 0:57:07Now Wentworth Woodhouse sits brooding, frozen in time,
0:57:07 > 0:57:10waiting for its future to be resolved,
0:57:10 > 0:57:12and to see if such an enormous building
0:57:12 > 0:57:15can find a new role in the modern world.
0:57:18 > 0:57:22The vast size of the house, intended of course to reflect
0:57:22 > 0:57:27the family's power, wealth and aspirations,
0:57:27 > 0:57:29continues to amaze.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35What I suppose is extraordinary is that such a vast house -
0:57:35 > 0:57:42over 300 rooms - could have functioned so effectively for so long.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45But the house is in trouble.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47Plans are afoot to find a new use for it,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50to repair it and to regenerate it.
0:57:50 > 0:57:55Whether those are the right plans remains to be seen.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57But the great thing is, the house endures.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01It remains a stupendous document
0:58:01 > 0:58:05of the age when the country was governed
0:58:05 > 0:58:08from such sensational power houses.
0:58:54 > 0:58:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:57 > 0:59:00E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk