South Yorkshire Times, March 10, 1933
Woodhead House
Here is a bit of Wombwell which few know about. It is Woodhead House, which remains “undiscovered” for two reasons; firstly, because old histories of the district make practically no reference to it, and secondly, on account of its position.
Woodhead House is hidden from the view of the curious by a larger and more modern residence. It stands several hundred yards from the highway, between the top of Wood Walk and Platts Common, and there is no public path to it. Not many Wombwell people could tell you where Woodhead House is, yet it is e one of the most interesting and best preserved relics in the township.
It belongs to the same period as Houghton Old Hall late Tudor—and has been occupied by county families. Situated near Blacker village, on the north side of Wombwell Road, it belongs to Hoyland rather than Wombwell. Also, it touches the hounds of two very ancient estates on the edge of Blacker waste.
Two buildings claim the name of Wood head House—the large comparatively modern dwelling occupied as a farmstead by Mr I. Thorley, and the ancient house now split up into tenements for farm workers. The larger house, typically Georgian, has a remarkably fine front, brought piecemeal, it is said, all the way from Roche Abbey. The facade consists of huge stone blocks, finely finished at the joints and hardened by the weather. The rooms (which we saw by courtesy of Mr. Thorley) are large, lofty , pretentious, and generally in keeping with the requirements of a substantial family.
Mr. Richard Raywood, who died some forty years ago, was the last person of note to live in it. In Mr. Raywood’s days the entrance to Woodhead House, now nothing more than a cart track, consisted of an imposing drive, kept private by wrought-iron ornamental gates. The gardens were beautifully kept and the orchards well stocked.
In the more ancient Woodhead House we see a typical old English homestead. It is squat and cramped as modern ideas go, but there is something dignified about its tiled roofs, mullioned windows, flagged forecourts and moss-grown walls.
Inside, heavy oak beams bear down upon you, and you see the modernised outlines of large open fireplaces.
“The merry homes of England:
Around these hearths at night,
What gladsome look of household love
Met in the ruddy light:”
The place is now cluttered up with corrugated iron sheds, brick outbuildings, and dust bins, but the main fabric is in a good state of preservation. It is the oldest building in Wombwell, and is well worth a visit of inspection.
The nearest public approach to Woodhead House is by a path across the fields from Wombwell Lane to Blacker Hill—a pleasant walk in summer but something of an ordeal when the weather is boisterous. A grove of tall trees protects the homestead from the gales. The site is the highest in Wombwell township, and from it can be viewed the country side for many miles toward Doncaster and Pontefract.
It was only by chance that a more imposing mansion was not erected on this spot toward the end of the eighteenth century. Sir George Wombwell, one time chairman of the Last India Company and M.P. for Huntingdon from 1774 to 1780, looked favourably on the site. “Worthies of Barnsley,” in its reference to the family of Wombwell, says: “Some time previous to his death Sir George had determined to build a seat in Yorkshire, and had fixed on the highest ridge of Blacker Common, close to the pyramid erected by the late William. Earl of Strafford. Here he planted forest trees and some preparations were made for the building. While in conversation with a relative of mine (a historian, Dr. Oxley, is being quoted), and descanting on the beauty and extent of the prospect, the latter remarked, `Why Sir George, ‘I would walk for a prospect.’ The hint was taken and the plan abandoned, very unwisely in my opinion. “At this distance of time I have not forgotten the feelings of my youth, Gillen I have stood on the site of the intended mansion, on the outskirts of the plantation. It still has a hold on my imagination, which all the beau-KS of the West of England could never produce.”
Sir George died of consumption in 1780, at the age of 46; perhaps if he had retired to the healthy heights of Blacker Common his life would have been lengthened.
Before the Raywoods a family of the name of Towfield lived at Woodhead House. Little record of them has been left except in leases of mineral rights to neighhouring collieries. An interesting fact about the lowfields is that it was their intention to construct a private drive from Woodhead House to the railway station along the summit of Blacker Ridge. In pursuance of tins plan, tree were planted on each side of a proposed car riage way, but the scheme never matured Trees now grown to maturity show the line of the intended drive.