Ledston Hall: 700-year-old Yorkshire stately home becomes first Grade I-listed building in the UK to get permission for double glazed windows
Yorkshire country house Ledston Hall has become the first Grade I-listed building in the UK to be granted permission to replace historic windows with double glazing.
The metal-framed, leaded windows at the 700-year-old stately home near Castleford will be replaced with energy-efficient alternatives as part of the building’s conversion into housing after a 65-year period in which it was unoccupied and deteriorating.
The hall is owned by the Wheler Foundation, a charitable trust set up by the last of the Wheler family before his death without heirs around 20 years ago. The estate also includes various cottages and commercial buildings in the villages of Ledston and Ledsham, including The Chequers Inn public house.
The Trust and their partners in the project described the installation of the double-glazed windows as a ‘turning point’ and a ‘breakthrough moment’ for the upgrading of listed building nationally to improve their carbon footprint without damaging their heritage fabric.
Expert glaziers Touchstone Glazing Solutions were commissioned and the overall renovations by Simpsons of York have led to the hall’s removal from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register.
Wheler Foundation trustree Mark Granger said: “Ledston Hall has a fascinating past and has undergone many innovative improvements throughout its history. Therefore, it seems fitting that it has achieved the accolade of being the first Grade-I listed property in the UK to receive consent for double-glazed replacements.
"In 2020, we had an opportunity to review our original planning application, and the advancement of technologies and attitudes towards sustainable solutions enabled us to put forward an alternative approach. The successful application allows us to preserve the status and heritage of the building whilst breathing new life into the estate, ensuring its use for future generations.”
Ledston Hall
In the original plans, replacing the windows was ruled out, before a review of the proposal in 2020 allowed alternatives to be explored. The work has involved some repair to the original windows.
Once the apartments and houses are let, the Trust hopes to reinstate public access to the grounds and hold open days again.
Ledston Hall and the estate
The Elizabethan hall is known for its associations with Lady Betty Hastings, a pioneering heiress who lived there in the 18th century and made many improvements to the house and grounds. The social reformer never married, but the charities she set up are still active today and the estate passed to the Wheler family in 1789.
Ledston’s decline came because it wasn’t the Whelers’ only seat; by the early 20th century, they favoured Otterden in Kent, spending only part of the winter in Yorkshire. By World War Two, it was unoccupied, and when the last of the line, Granville Wheler, inherited in 1948, he immediately leased the mansion to a school.
In the 1960s, the south wing was converted into five flats for estate tenants, but the remainder of the house was in a state of decay and becoming increasingly unsafe. There were no funds for repairs and after his death in 2004 its future was still uncertain, and public access to the grounds was ended over fears about the building’s condition.
It was only when a parcel of land in Kent was sold to developers that the renovation project could go ahead, and its owners, the Wheler Foundation – set up with trustees appointed by Granville in 1992 – submitted their plans.
Ledston Hall has become four houses and six apartments, all let to tenants who will have access to the extensive gardens. The dining, meeting rooms and lecture hall will be available for hire by the public. Access to the grounds and gardens will also eventually be reinstated.
The restoration also included a refurbishment of the 12th-century chapel that once belonged to Pontefract Priory – its lands became the Ledston estate after the Dissolution of the Monasteries – that acted as the village of Ledston’s parish church. The chapel has been closed during the building work, but will re-open for services once again.
The Whelers always retained an income from the 3,000-acre estate – there are seven tenanted farms and 34 cottages and other residential properties in the nearby villages. The old stable block is leased to a livery yard and riding school, and The Chequers Inn in Ledsham is a quirky survivor, having been estate-owned for centuries.
The Chequers has been trading since 1540, and became famous for not opening on Sundays until 2012, thanks to a rule put in place 180 years before by the lady of the manor when she was verbally abused by a group of drunken farm labourers outside the pub on a Sunday. The estate refused the licensee’s request for Sunday opening back in the 1980s, but reconsidered their stance once the Foundation had entirely taken over its running.
The estate passed through several families, often via the female line by daughters’ marriages. Granville Wheler and his siblings, Charles and Margaret, were Lady Betty Hastings’ last direct descendants.
