South Yorkshire Times January 13th, 1933
Hidden Beauty
Unspoilt Nature At Netherwood
History Of The Hall
Industry is like adversity; it has sweet uses in making us appreciate the beautiful. Like Shakespeare’s toad, it is ugly but wears a jewel in its head. The little fragment of unspoiled nature shows here is one such gem. This is the Dove where it flows past Netherwood Hall and divides the grounds of that old-world mansion from the cricket ground near Mitchell Main Colliery. The river now is a thing of curves and ripples but in its angrier moods it is fascinating. On its shingly bed the boys of the district make pleasant sport in summer. Within the memory of older inhabitants, the Dove has yielded goodly trout but nothing lives in it now, but is has a pretty countenance beneath the overhanging willows.
Looking down at the swirling waters from the bridge in Bradbury Balk Lane you can almost forget for a moment you are in Wombwell. The land on both sides of the stream at this point has recently been incorporated in a miners’ welfare scheme and a rustic bridge in pleasant keeping with the prospect has been thrown across the river to link the sports ground with the Hall, now used as an institute.
Around the spot much of the history of Wombwell is enshrined and some of the most important personalities of the district have strolled in the gardens which fall from the hall to the water’s edge. Netherwood Hall is an imposing building, though lacking architectural adornments. The aspect is east, but some of the rooms open south. The Hall was built a couple of centuries ago, but there are unmistakable evidences that the present building is not the first Netherwood Hall. In the vicinity, according to ordnance survey, there are remains of an old moat. The building is in the same style as Darfield rectory and the newer portion of Swaithe Hall. The rooms are lofty, the walls exquisitely panelled and till recently it contained many rare paintings. The fine open staircase with rich mahogany balustrades has been preserved and incorporated in the institute.
The situation is rather low-lying for a building of this type, but the Hall occupies an eminence from which the old walled garden slopes. The gardens have fallen into a comparative wilderness. The collieries, which almost encroach on the grounds, have spoiled the place for cultivation.
The Hall was formerly the home of the Garlands, a family who “kept good house,” and were at one time of consequence in the county. They are now associated with Wombwell by name only. One of the Garlands who came into possession of the Hall was John, whose daughter Mary Webster was the mother of the late Mrs. John Robinson, Park Cottage, Wombwell and grandmother of Mrs. John Halmshaw, Monk Bretton, whose family occupied the Hall in recent years. Henry Garland, a former owner, had three sons, one of which sold the place to the Mitchell Main Colliery Company 34years ago, and went to live in Lincolnshire. The Garlands were related to the famous William Birks, “the honest Yorkshire lawyer and man of affairs,” through the marriage of Miss Bertha Birks to John Garland, who occupied the Hall in 1822, when Wombwell had a population of 811.The daughter of an earlier generation, Elizabeth Garland, was a maid of honour at Court and became a friend and companion to Queen Caroline, wife of George II. Particularly her parents’ costly preparation for their only daughter’s entry into London Society are shown as follows:
1698 Spent when at London for Betty, and coach hire forrard and backwards, £6 10s
1704 – For Betty Garland and her maid going to London £3.
1704 – Paid Lady Frenchville for bord for Betty Garland and her maid £125.
And to her ladyship for several things disbursed for Betty, £100 12 5d.
Pd for setting ye diamond buckle, £2 5s.
1705 – Pd Mr. Edrington for Betty’s gold watch £23.
A household book of the Garlands gives the following:
1697 – For a leg of mutton and couple of rabbits 2s 1d
Four chickens1 1s
Eighteen pigeons 1s 6d
Couple of ducks 1s 6d
24 partridges at 4d each 8s 4d
The beautiful Elizaeth must have walked by this stream. For ten years after the Hall had been acquired by the Colliery Company the family of the late Mr. J. E. Mitchell resided there. For the next fourteen ears the family of Mr. J. W. Halmshaw were the occupants, Mr. Halmshaw then being general manager at Mitchell Main. The local council once considered a scheme for converting the Hall into a hospital, but the proposal was dropped. It was purchased as a welfare centre three years ago.
Incidental to this scene is the old water-mill a hundred yards further down the river. Tradition has it that quaker oats were first made here. In all probability the mill, though dated 1792, is older than the Hall itself, and the Wombwell name of Skaife was at one time identified with it. Later it was worked by the late Mr. Thomas Umpleby, but grinding ceased there in September 1897.
It appears that some years earlier the Darfield Main Colliery Company commandeered the water and installed a gas engine as compensation. A fire arising from the gas engine in 1887 left only the four walls of the mill standing, and it was rebuilt by Mr. Umpleby.
It will surprise many to learn that till sixty years ago there was no through road between Mitchell Main and Low Valley. Traffic could go down an old cart lane far as Netherwood Hall, where stood a signpost at the end of a bridle road to the mill. Anyone passing that point did so on sufferance. Ultimately Mr. Harry Garland gave land for a new road round “Garland’s Pond” which he constructed at his own expense, thus securing privacy for his own residence and at the same time contributing to the public convenience by opening out a short cut from Mitchell Main to Darfield.
The site of Mitchell Main Colliery was then a meadow.