Bretton Hall

Bretton Hall is a stately home in West Bretton in the county of West Yorkshire, England, near Wakefield. It was designed and built around 1720 by its owner, Sir William Wentworth, assisted by James Moyser. In 1792 it passed into the Beaumont family, (latterly Barons and Viscounts Allendale), and the Library and Dining Room were remodelled by John Carr in 1793. A new wing by Sir Jeffry Wyattville was added in 1811-14, and monumental stables designed by George Basevi were built between 1842 and 1852. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2032x1524, 643 KB) Photograph of Bretton Hall taken by myself on 07 July 2005. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2032x1524, 643 KB) Photograph of Bretton Hall taken by myself on 07 July 2005. ... A stately home is, strictly speaking, one of about 500 large properties built in England between the mid-16th century and the early part of the 20th century, as well as converted abbeys and other church property (after the Dissolution of the Monasteries). ... West Bretton is a village in the county of West Yorkshire, England, near Wakefield. ... Coat of Arms of South Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, that has a population of 2. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total... Wakefield The Town Hall, Wood St. ... Viscount Allendale is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Sir Jeffry Wyattville (born 1766, died 1840) was an English architect and garden designer, brother to Sir John Wyattville the architect. ... Elias George Basevi (1 April 1794-16 October 1845) was an English architect famous for designing buildings such as the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. ...

The Hall is set in 500 acres (2 km²) of lakes and parkland which is also the home of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Bretton Country Park also houses sculptures. Categories: Stub ...

In 1949, the Hall became the site of Bretton Hall College, a teacher training college founded by Alec Clegg specialising in innovative courses in design, music and the visual and performance arts. It later became an affiliated college of the University of Leeds, which validated its degrees. Its graduates include Richard O'Brien, Louisa Leaman, Kay Mellor, Colin Welland, John Godber, Sir Ken Robinson, David Rappaport, Mark Thomas, Jonathan Kerrigan, Esther Hall, the comedian and actress Emma Fryer, Queer as Folk actress Carla Henry, the pop band The Research, three of the four League of Gentlemen creators/performers, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith and, most recently, the acclaimed Chotto Ookii Theatre Company. The University of Leeds is a major teaching and research university, one of the largest in the United Kingdom with over 32,000 full-time students. ... Richard OBrien (born Richard Timothy Smith on March 25, 1942 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England) is an English writer, actor, television presenter and theatre performer. ... Louisa Leaman (born 24 June 1976) is a writer and behaviour expert based in London UK. In 2004 she won a writing competition in the Times Educational Supplement. ... Kay Mellor (born 1950 in Leeds, Yorkshire, UK) is a British actress and scriptwriter, best known for her work on several successful television drama series. ... Colin Welland (born 4 July 1934 in Newton-le-Willows, St Helens, Lancashire) is an English actor and screenwriter, writer. ... John Godber (born 1956) is a British playwright, known mainly for his innovative theater and observational comedies with an edge. He was born in Upton, West Yorkshire, trained as a teacher of drama, and was artistic director of Hull Truck Theatre Company. ... Sir Ken Robinson, CBE (born in Liverpool in 1950[1]) is a leading expert on innovation, creativity and human resources. ... David Rappaport David Stephen Rappaport (November 23, 1951 – May 2, 1990) was a British actor, probably one of the best known dwarf actors in television and film, standing at 3 11. Rappaport was born to a Jewish family in London, and soon developed talents in both music and theatre. ... Mark Clifford Thomas (born 11 April 1963) is an English comedian, presenter, political activist and reporter from south London. ... Jonathan Kerrigan (born 14 October 1972/1977 in Lincolnshire) is an English actor well known for his portrayal of gay nurse Sam Colloby in the BBC medical dramas Casualty and Holby City, and as police officers in the series Merseybeat and Heartbeat. ... Esther Hall is a British actress who is currently best known for playing Felix Gibson in the BBC crime drama Waking the Dead and as the girlfriend of Kris Marshall in BTs telephone advertisements. ... Emma Fryer is a British stand-up comedian and actress, based in Coventry. ... // Queer As Folk (US) Based on the British series of the same name, Showtimes Queer as Folk presents the American version. ... Carla Henry is a British actress, most famous for her role as Donna in the Queer As Folk. ... The Research is a pop band from Wakefield, United Kingdom. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Mark Gatiss (born October 17, 1966) is an English actor and writer. ... Steve Pemberton Steve Pemberton (b. ... Reece Shearsmith (born 27 August 1969 in Hull) is a British comedy performer and writer. ... Chotto Ookii Theatre Company are a physical theatre company based in Leeds(UK) comprising of performer/directors Matt Rogers,Kathleen Yore, Rebecca Devitt, Jake England-Johns and Rebekah Caputo. ...

The iconic nude fight scene between Oliver Reed and Alan Bates in the film Women in Love is known to have been shot in the main mansion building of Bretton Hall. The Savior Not Made By Hands (1410s, by Andrei Rublev) An icon (from Greek εικων, eikon, image) is an artistic visual representation or symbol of anything considered holy and divine, such as God, saints or deities. ... Robert Oliver Reed (February 13, 1938 – May 2, 1999) was an English actor known for his macho image on and off screen. ... Alan Bates as butler in Gosford Park (2001) Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE, (February 17, 1934 – December 27, 2003) was a British actor. ... Women in Love was a novel by British author D.H. Lawrence published in 1920. ...

The College found itself in financial difficulties, and, with the support of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), it merged with the University of Leeds in August 2001. The majority of the music, fine art and teacher training courses were moved to the main Leeds campus, but visual and performing arts education and creative writing remained at the Bretton Hall site, which became home to the University's School of Performance and Cultural Industries. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education and Skills in the United Kingdom which distributes funding to Universities and Colleges of Higher and Further Education in England since 1992. ... Leeds is a major city in West Yorkshire, England. ...

In December 2004, the University's governing body (Council), despite having spent much by way of time, money and staffing resources on implementing the merger, decided that the Bretton Hall site was not financially viable, and will move the School to the main University campus in the summer of 2007 (allowing all existing Bretton-based students to complete their studies there).

In June 2006 it was announced that Bretton Hall was to be sold to Wakefield Council.

On May 3rd, John Godber presented Final curtain, a documentary on Bretton Hall, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of chiefly spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ...

On 5th and 6th May 2007, a reunion was organised for the alumni and students of Bretton Hall between 1947 and 2007. This was a celebration of the school's contribution to the arts industry and also the academic excellence it produced over the last sixty years. An alumn (with a silent n), alum, alumnus, or alumna is a former student of a college, university, or school. ...

External links

• University of Leeds press release on the proposed closure of Bretton Hall Campus
• BBC news item about the sale to Wakefield Council
• A website dedicated to the Bretton Hall reunion 1947 to 2007
• A website created after the final reunion of Bretton Hall in May 2007
• The Bretton Estate Archve website, giving information on the history of the House and grounds