Bretton Hall, Wakefield, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

Pleasure grounds of late 18th- and early 19th-century date, parkland of the 18th century with earlier origins. Richard Woods was consulted about improvements in 1764, but it is not known what he proposed and whether it was carried out. Robert Marnock (1800-99) was head gardener for a period prior to his departure in 1834.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING 

Bretton Hall is situated about 9km south-west of Wakefield, immediately south of the village of West Bretton in an area which is rural and agricultural. The M1 motorway passes within a few hundred metres of the site's extreme eastern boundary. The roughly 240-hectare site is bisected by the valley of the River Dearne which runs east/west through it. The north-west boundary is formed by a track connecting Hill Lane with the A636, the west boundary by the A636 and Litherop Lane, and the south boundary by Jebb Lane and fencing around Longsides and Jebb Plantation. A linear earthwork called Oxley Bank runs north from Jebb Lane forming the east boundary, which is continued by the eastern edge of Oxley Bank Wood and by the A637 Huddersfield Road. A stone wall runs along Huddersfield Road and the remaining boundaries have a mixture of walls and fences.
 

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

Country Life, 83 (21 May 1938), pp 530(5; (28 May 1938), pp 554-9

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire The West Riding (1967), pp 145-7

G Sheeran, Landscape Gardens in West Yorkshire 1680-1880 (1990), pp 55-9

Bretton Hall Park Landscape Masterplan, (Land Use Consultants (LUC) 1996)

L Bartle, A Short History of Bretton Hall (1997)

Maps

T Jefferys, County Map of Yorkshire, surveyed 1767-9, published 1771

Estate Map, 1810 [reproduced in LUC 1996 Appendix Two]

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1849-51; 2nd edition surveyed 1891

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1908; 1932 edition
 

Description written: February 1998

Amended: March 1999

Edited: November 1999