Oulton Hall in
Oulton,
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 ...
, is a Grade II
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
in England. It was once the home of the Blayds/Calverley family.
After a major fire in 1850 the hall was remodelled, but its fortunes declined until it was revived for use as a hotel. As of 2022, it is a
4 star hotel, part of the QHotels group as Oulton Hall Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort.
History
Oulton Hall was originally a "modest eighteenth-century house"
owned by the Blayds family. In 1807 the house was left to John Calverley, who was a partner in Beckett's Bank and Mayor of
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
in 1798. He changed his name to Blayds in order to inherit the property, but his descendants reverted to Calverley. He
enclosed
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
the surrounding common in 1809, and it was landscaped to designs by
Humphrey Repton
Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...
soon afterwards. In around 1822, he commissioned
Sir Robert Smirke
Sir Robert Smirke (1 October 1780 – 18 April 1867) was an English architect, one of the leaders of Greek Revival architecture, though he also used other architectural styles. As architect to the Board of Works, he designed several major ...
to remodel the house, and it was enlarged by Smirke's brother,
Sydney, in 1839. In 1850 a fire destroyed much of the property, including most of the Smirkes' work.
The Leeds firm of Perkin and Backhouse rebuilt the hall, and further work was done in 1875 by Perkin and Sons and in 1885 by Chorley and Cannon of Leeds.
The hall had various uses during the 20th century. In the First World War it was used as a hospital and convalescent home for soldiers diagnosed with
neurasthenia
Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North A ...
. The hall opened as a hospital in July 1918 under the command of Colonel C W E Duncombe to provide care for officers with
shell shock
Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a react ...
. Fifty officers were admitted in 1918, with seventy-one beds available in total. Treatment was focused on confidential talks with the doctor, occupational therapy and a focus on learning, poetry and gardening. The Leeds Education Committee allowed patients to attend classes in the city free of charge. Trips out were organised, with patients travelling to Ilkley, in 1923. The hospital closed in July 1925 and the patients were transferred to Grantham. This decision was unpopular in the press, as it took soldiers much further away from their families and left the North of England without a specialist treatment centre for psychological wounds inflicted by experiences in the First World War.
In 1925 the owners sold the hall and grounds to the county council. It was used as a hospital for psychiatric patients until 1971. Oulton Hall then changed hands, but due to the new owner's lack of resources it fell into disrepair, and in 1974 it was derelict. In 1991 De Vere Hotels acquired the lease and rescued it. Restoration and expansion cost £20 million to turn the hall into a hotel set in an estate of , with gardens, a 27-hole golf course and a spa.
References
{{reflist
Leeds City Council: ''Oulton conservation area appraisal and conservation management plan'', 17 May 2010
Buildings and structures in Leeds
Grade II listed buildings in West Yorkshire
Thomas Rickman buildings
Rothwell, West Yorkshire