The first chapter of my book Demolished Sheffield (2022) is given to a building that is neither demolished nor in Sheffield, simply because it’s the finest example I know in South Yorkshire of a historic structure that, from the point of collapse, was rescued, superbly restored and put to successful economic use.
Hellaby Hall is in the Borough of Rotherham, close to the M18 junction 1 at Wickersley.
It was built c1690 for Richard Fretwell, a Quaker whose wealth came from his family’s extensive Barbados sugar-plantations.
Its most distinctive architectural feature is the huge, flamboyant Dutch gable which extends across the whole of the Roche limestone ashlar façade, terminating in what Sir Nikolaus Pevsner describes as “fleshy” volutes.
After Richard Fretwell’s death in 1701 the Hellaby Hall estate passed through the female line to the family of Sir John Eden of Durham: his descendant, Sir Timothy Eden, whose younger brother Anthony was the Prime Minister, still owned it in 1959.
The house was inhabited by a local farmer until 1975, after which it became the victim of a long-running series of disagreements between Rotherham Borough Council and the developers of the industrial estate on the surrounding land.
In August 1980 small boys were chased away for starting bonfires some hours before an alarm which required seven fire-engines. A local resident who saw the flames had omitted to dial 999 because “it didn’t seem worth it”. The fire-brigade discovered three separate seats to the resulting “inferno”.
Because of the Hall’s considerable architectural interest it was eventually listed Grade II*: though “vandalised and partly gutted by fire”, the listing-survey mentions “remains of panelled plaster ceilings, remains of a grand staircase with square newels and turned balusters. Large, arched fireplaces to rear-left room and to later kitchen in rear wing”.
Rotherham Borough Council sold the shored-up shell of the building in 1982 to a local businessman who planned to convert it to a restaurant. A different owner produced further plans for a hotel and restaurant in 1984, but went into liquidation.
Eventually in June 1990 the Lancashire & Yorkshire Assurance Society took on the restoration of the Hall as a 52-bed hotel and restaurant, commissioning Hall & Tawse Eastern Ltd to stabilise the surviving structure and reconstruct the interior using archive sources and photographs from the Royal Commission for Historic Monuments. The eventual cost of the refurbishment was £4 million.
The Hellaby Hall Hotel opened in October 1991, but closed abruptly when the operator, Whiteley Geddes Leisure, went into liquidation on February 10th 1992, leaving a further question-mark over the future of this unique structure.
In 1995 it was extended by new developers, Tomorrows Leisure PLC, and opened as an 89-bedroom four-star hotel by AJL Hotel Holdings. Thirty years later, it seems to be still going strong: Hellaby Hall Hotel | Hotel in Rotherham.
The story of Hellaby Hall is featured in Demolished Sheffield, a 112-page full colour A4 publication by Mike Higginbottom. For details please click here.