Whitley Beaumont Campsite

Whitley Beaumont - An Historical Snippet

THIS PAGE IS UPDATED WHEN WE HAVE NEW INPUT - MOST RECENT UPDATE 18/12/2007

Whitley Beaumont Campsite retains the name of the local estate of the Beaumont family, who owned the estate and resided in the area and at Whitley Beaumont Hall before demolition Whitely Beaumont Hall for some 400 years.

The Hall was built by Sir Richard Beaumont, more of whom later, and was last owned and occupied by the Sutcliffe family, The last owner being Charles Sutcliffe. His great nephew wrote in the Yorkshire Post in about remembering visiting the "secret garden" and sitting on an old World War One field gun kept in the front garden.

Charles Sutcliffe was a member of the Rockwood Hunt and hunt balls were held in Whitley’s great hall. During the Second World War, Charles Sutcliffe loaned the grounds for army training manoeuvres and camps.

The Sutcliffe family were the largest individual maltsters in Great Britain with kilns in many parts of northern England, many of which were in Wakefield.

Charlie Sutcliffe died in 1948 and Whitley Hall became unsafe through mining substance, was sold to the NCB and was demolished in 1951.

Scouts first camped at Whitley Beaumont in 1928, when the owner, Mr. Charles Sutcliffe, allowed Scouts to camp in the hall’s kitchen garden. There is some question over the exact date, some locals suggest 1928, whilst Huddersfield Scout archives suggest that the first use was in 1929.

In 1931 The Huddersfield Scouts District minute that "Mr Browning (Treasurer?) reported that he had presented Messrs Fisher and Grimes 10/- each on behalf of the local association for their services rendered to association camping on Whitley Beaumont in 1931."

According to The Huddersfield Daily Examiner of October 6 1950, the Scouts bought the 11-acre site in 1950. Other accounts say it was donated by an anonymous donor.

The hall was demolished in the early 1950's and the area surrounding the site was extensively open-cast mined.

The site is now managed on behalf of the Huddersfield Districts by a committee of Scouters who report to Huddersfield South East District Council.

Capability Brown - did he plant the copse? The campsite covers 11 acres of land from the former Whitley Beaumont estate and it is unclear as to whether this particular site was ever open cast mined, but much of the surrounding property has been mined out and landfilled. At the centre of the campsite stands a copse of beech trees which must date back a couple of hundred years. Given that they are the single species in the copse, on a hillside, albeit inundated by Rhododendrons, could this copse have been part of the original estate landscaping? If so, Whitley Beaumont campsite could have a rather unique claim for a Scout camping ground; that is owes its landscaping, in part, to none other than Capability Brown. Well, it would make a nice story if it were true.

Over the years Whitley Beaumont has had its fair share of characters. The first Baron of Whitley Beaumont was one Richard Beaumont, knighted by James I/VI, in 1609 and made Baronet in 1628. In 1610 he helped found Kirkheaton Grammar School. He was the MP for Pontefract in 1625, made Baronet in 1628 and died in 1631 whence his body was interred at a the Beaumont Chapel at Kirkheaton Church. He earned the nickname Black Dick of the North from King James, quite why we don’t know. There are references to Sir Richard being a highwayman, but this seems at odds to his position, his Knighthood and Baronetcy and his role as treasurer for wounded soldiers. (Does anyone know more?)

Upon his death , the estate was inherited by Sir Richard's nephew, Sir Thomas Beaumont, who had been born at Lascelles Hall and who fought on the Royalist side during the Civil War, gaining his Knighthood on the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne. Thomas Beaumont defended Sheffield Castle but on being forced to surrender he was heavily fined by the Parliamentarians.

Two later Sir Richard Beaumonts were High Sheriffs of Yorkshire in 1713 and 1793.

The Examiner edition which reported the Scout acquisition of Whitley Beaumont also reported that legend has it that the Beaumont family hid their treasure somewhere in the grounds during the Civil War. Perhaps the treasure remains to be discovered by some visiting Scouts?

Black Dick's Tower

The one remnant of Whitley Beaumont Hall is the summer house, the Temple, overlooking Mirfield to the North East. The Temple can be reached by footpath from the campsite. Local legend says that Black Dick can be seen walking by the temple with his head under his arm.The temple has been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair, the ground floor being allowed to fall into the basement.

Black Dick though was not the only reputed ghost. Whitley Hall was also reputed to be the home of the "ubiquitous" White Lady ghost.

Not all was grandeur at Whitley Hall, and like most of the grand households slavery was part of their past. Whitley Beaumont and the Beaumont family may also have been part of this trade.

<quote>It is very difficult to estimate how many people of African-Caribbean descent lived in West Yorkshire in the 19th Century. Ethnicity was not something that was usually noted down in official records. The Parish Registers for Kirkheaton near Huddersfield include the following record: "Baptised 2nd November 1782 Daniel Whitley an Ethiopian by birth from the coast of Guinea, living with Richard Henry Beaumont at Whitley Hall." The Parish Registers also show that in just over five years time this same Daniel Whitley would be dead. It would seem Daniel became a Christian and was given the name of the house where he lived, but how did he come to end his life in West Yorkshire? < unquote BBC Archives>

Another resident of Whitley Beaumont Hall was a bit of a recluse, today he would certainly be the subject of a TV programme such as a “Life of Grime” or similar…

A Marian Stanhope wrote of a visit to Whitley Beaumont Hall in the 1800’s…

Nov. 14th, 1808

”Last Monday we met the Mills' at Grange, she, delightful as usual. We
returned the next day, and in our road called on Mr Beaumont of
Whitley.
The master of Whitley is a strange creature, half mad. He leads the
life of a hermit, and has not had a brush, painter or carpenter in his
house since he came into possession many, many years ago.
It is more like a haunted house in a romance than anything I ever saw.
He is now an old man, and has never bought a morsel of furniture; half
the house never was finished; one of the staircases has got no
banisters. The stables were burnt down some time ago and have never
yet been rebuilt. The rooms he lives in have not been put to rights
for many years--a description of the things they contain would not be
easy,--hats, wigs, coats, piles of newspapers, magazines and letters,
draughts, bottles, wash-hand basins, pictures without frames, apples,
tallow candles and broken tea-cups.
The whole house looks like a place for lumber. There are some fine
rooms, but so damp and mouldy it is quite shocking. There is a chapel
completely filled with old rubbish and a plaid bed which was put up
for the Pretender (Bonnie Prince Charlie).
In the room Mr Beaumont sleeps in I saw his coffin made of cedar wood.
He scarcely ever sees a living creature and quite dislikes the sight
of a woman. He does everything in the room, which no housemaid ever
enters, nor indeed any part of the house.
We saw there Jack Mills, the Democrat, and his little boy who is
christened Alfred Ankerstrom Mirabeau. Ankestrome was the man who
killed the King of Sweden; Mirabeau the chief author of the French
Revolution. He was godfather to this boy. Before you re-instate the
Bourbons, should you not extirpate such a man?”

Rod's Beck

The stream that runs along the side of Whitley Beaumont Campsite is Rod's Beck. It is hard to believe when you look at it today, but this trickle of water was an essential element for the revenues of Whitley Beaumont Estate, and the local agricultural economy.

As part of the Whitley Beaumont tennancy arrangements all grain grown on tennant lands withing the estate had to be milled at the local corn mill, fed by Rod's Beck. So this little stream was key to the local economy for many, many years.

Should readers have any further information about the history of Whitley Beaumont please feel free to send them to the webmaster.

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