When we arrived on the scene, this ancient house, seat of the Calverley family for over 500 years, had long been divided into cottages and was about to be sold in slices. To save it from this fate, we bought the whole of it and the open ground in front.

The Calverleys were minor Yorkshire magnates, often knighted and latterly baronets. One, put to death after murdering his two eldest sons here (not in the part of the house you stay in) was the subject of a play, The Yorkshire Tragedy, once claimed to be by Shakespeare. Another, it is said, was the model for Sir Roger de Coverley. After the Civil War, the Calverley of the day married the heiress of Esholt Hall, nearby, and from then on the family spent most of their time there.

So Calverley Old Hall went slowly down in the world, and in 1754 was sold to the Thornhills, whose descendants sold it to us.

Blackened and stony in the romantic northern manner, but still quite grand, it is now surrounded by lesser houses. We have so far repaired the chapel, the hammer-beam hall roof and one wing, the North House, in which you can stay.

The close-knit friendly life of the neighbouring streets, of corner shop and pub, soon warms all those who come to Calverley. There are many good things in the area to visit by day, before returning in the evening to ponder, under the moulded beams, on the vanished Calverleys and their once great house.

View our history sheet for this Landmark.

Sleeps: 5