Newland Estate, Wakefield, January 2012

[Wakey Lad]

Over the last 20 year I have seen the sad demise of this once grand estate. Gone are many of the historic buildings including the dovecote and the castellated Stanley Lodge. The buildings that have survived have been ransacked for just about everything of value, however if you do take the time to look, there are still some interesting features left at Newland, if like me you can’t resist a good ruin!


History
Newland Estate lies in the valley of the River Calder between Alfofts and Stanley Ferry, and is one of the very few estates in the area that can be traced back through documents which have survived and span 900 years. Occupation of the site dates back at least to the Bronze Age, and is believed to have been the site of a Roman villa or camp. Large amounts of Roman pottery and coins were extracted from the site on the 1997 archaeological dig. Evidence of an iron ore mine has also been found on the estate which is could be connected to the henge at Birkwood Common.

The estate in its present form was established in 1213 by King John of England and belonged to a community of Knights Templar up to the year 1256 when it was transferred to a similar organisation called the Knights Hospitallers. A preceptory was historically the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller and Templar which was governed by a preceptor, who was answerable to the Grand Master of the order.

The estate was once held by the Levett family, and William Levett, who was lord of the manor, was admitted tenant of the Knights Hospitallers on October 2nd 1447. The property belonging to the Hospitallers was dissolved by King Henry viii who bestowed the property upon himself in 1544. He then sold the estate in 1546 to a Mr Bunny of Newton. In 1694 the estate was bought by the Silvester family and Newland Hall was built around 1740, replacing a more modest farmhouse.

The hall had 54 rooms and was one of the grandest buildings in the area. The last owners of the hall were William Locke and John Warrington who opened the Saint Johns Colliery at Newland in 1870. By 1917 the building was in a poor state, it was thought to be in danger by the owners and demolished. In 1926 the estate was bought by The Warmfield Company Limited who ran the nearby brickworks up to the 1950s.

The stable block of the hall was lived in up to 1959 by a Mrs Gill of Heath House, who came to live there in 1920 with her husband, Manager of the nearby Saint Johns Colliery. This signalled the beginning of the end of Newland; in 1974 the once ancient independent township was taken into the newly formed Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. By this time the area had been deserted, and over the next 25 years saw much of its history ransacked by greedy owners who wanted to turn the site into a tip.

Thankfully this was stopped by local campaigner Paul Dainton who was successful in leading a 3000 strong protest across the estate, raising awareness of the historical importance of the site. His work helped save Newland, which is now in the hands of farmer Andrew Hughes.

In 2002 Andrew proposed to restore the estate by raising money from opencast mining on nearby land in the hope of making the several surviving buildings on the estate habitable once again. These range from agricultural buildings to grand houses. Unfortunately the scheme failed leaving no money to fund the rebuilding works, and two large holes where the opencast had started. These were flooded and are now known as Newland Lakes, attracting visitors from afar. However the biggest success story is that Andrew has returned much of the land to agriculture, building fences and re introducing livestock, and after rebuilding one of the houses on the site plans to re develop a second house once funding permits.



Newland Entrance, Stanley Lodge once stood to the left of this photo



Masons Mark on the gate pillar



1740s stable block



Stable block interior



One of the first floor box sash windows of the stable block that has fallen from the frame



One of four wells at Newland, this one supplied the old hall



One of only three surviving boundary stones, the fact it is hidden has probably saved it from being stolen. Situated on Friars Cliff



1740s farm buildings



Inner wall of courtyard, it is believed this wall may pre date the 1740s buildings. It is a very grand wall to be inside a farm building, could it possibly be from an earlier building?



Section of drainage channel, there is almost a mile of this running towards Stanley Ferry



Many of the 19th Century buildings were built from bricks made at the nearby brickworks, which was home to one of the earliest Hoffman Brick Kilns in the country



Known locally as the Pig Womans House, during WWII a hidden pig enclosure was built in the fields below the house. This was so that the noble folk could avoid having to live solely on rations. The enclosure was totally invisible to inspectors who made regular visits to the estate



Derelict house which is to be rebuilt by the current owners



From me & my urbex dog, thanks for looking!


You can find more on Newland Estate at my website http://www.stanleyhistoryonline.com/Newland-Estate.html

[yorkietommo]

Top stuff fella. I do like a bit of Newland. Brought the kids here for a picnic in the summer, they thought it was boring! lol.

[Nicola]

Great write up - the exploring dog is gorgeous!

[Wakey Lad]

Top stuff fella. I do like a bit of Newland. Brought the kids here for a picnic in the summer, they thought it was boring! lol.

They thought it was boaring! Kids today eh! I used to spend hours up here as a kid

[Wakey Lad]

Great write up - the exploring dog is gorgeous!

Shes a character is the dawg!

[myke]

nice place spent a day or two wandering about there myself every time i go i find something different.

anyone know what the building with the bricked arch roof was used for (think its the only surviving roof here)

[Wakey Lad]

It was to house cattle, i have contact with the a member of the last family to own Newland, we had a walk around there with him several years ago - To say he was shocked as to how bad the place had got was an understatement!

[freebird]

Great pics! I love the last one!!

[Wakey Lad]

Great pics! I love the last one!!

Cheers, Lucie the dog likes a good explore

[myke]

It was to house cattle, i have contact with the a member of the last family to own Newland, we had a walk around there with him several years ago - To say he was shocked as to how bad the place had got was an understatement!

thanks for the reply but i am still confused, no doubt it has been used for cattle but this is a substancial roof made from girders and short brick arches each arch vented by a pipe reminded me of a kiln but the bricks are wrong type

a pic of the roof

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...4-17165017.jpg