Whitley Beaumont was an estate in the county of

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, near

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

. Whitley Hall (now demolished) was the seat of the Beaumont family. A part of the former estate is now in use as a Scout camp-site.

History

In around 1200, the lord of Pontefract castle, Roger de Laci presented William Bellomonte, ancestor of the Beaumonts of Whitley, 24 bovates of land in Huddersfield, half meadow and half wood and four marks rent on the mill in the same place. Although there were probably houses built on the site in the interim, the first documented Hall was built by Sir Richard Beaumont in the early 17th century. The house was then rebuilt in the 18th century in an imposing Georgian style using local millstone grit. The gardens were landscaped by

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

. By the early part of the 20th century the house stood empty and the fittings were sold in 1917. The estate was then bought in 1924 by Charles Sutcliffe an industrialist. Unfortunately, this was not enough to save the house and estate and it continued to deteriorate until it was sold in 1950 and split up, the major part to an opencast mining company and the house was demolished.

Scouting

Charles Sutcliffe first allowed Scouts to use the kitchen gardens to camp in 1928 or 1929 and after the 1950 break-up of the estate an area of land south of the hall passed into the hands of the Huddersfield Scout districts. It is now run by volunteers reporting to Huddersfield South-East district.

References

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External links

Whitley Beaumont Camp-site
Country houses in West Yorkshire Gardens by Capability Brown