Wentworth Castle and Wentworth Woodhouse: Georgian rivals united through 21st-century restoration and public access - Dr Patrick Eyres

The family rivalry was both dynastic and political. Until the mid-1740s, the Wentworth Castle dynasty was superior in aristocratic rank and cultural display. It was once the Hanoverian monarchy was securely embedded, that the Whigs at Wentworth Woodhouse began to eclipse their Tory cousins in social status and estate embellishment. We are fortunate that the rivals are being united by the endeavours of charitable trusts to conserve as a public amenity this magnificent legacy of competitive country house building and landscape gardening.

For over a decade, the Wentworth Castle Heritage Trust restored the splendour of the mansion, estate buildings, gardens, park and monuments, and the future of Wentworth Castle Gardens is now secure in the care of the National Trust. At Wentworth Woodhouse, the Fitzwilliam Wentworth Amenity Trust has restored the Georgian fabric of the landscape monuments and the four serpentine lakes, while the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust is undertaking the Herculean task of re-roofing the gargantuan Palladian mansion.