Darton Hall - concluding chapter

I wrote about Darton Hall on 28 May 2017. The story there went down to the mid nineteenth century when it had become a farmhouse occupied by a tenant. Here in brief are some more pages of the Darton Hall story:-

1883. It was advertised for sale in Febr. 1883 when it was said to have an area of 1a 1r, 18p and to be conveniently close to the station (Barnsley Chronicle 24 Feb. 1883).

1887. It was advertised again for letting or sale in February 1887, with stabling, cowhouse and other conveniences, and large walled garden (Barnsley Chronicle 22 January and 5 and 12 Feb. 1887).

1887 or 1888 Wentworth Blackett Beaumont [1829-1907] [from 1906, Lord Allendale] sold Darton Hall to Emily Lavinia Fountain, wife of Henry Fountain of Birthwaite (what was BEA/CB/B11/4 in the Allendale Archives). The item - a duplicate conveyance - has apparently been withdrawn from the [former] Bretton Hall archives. But it must be about 1887 or 1888. In the new classification at West Yorks Archives I understand the reference to this item - albeit without the document! - will be WYW1849/2/1/5/116. (My thanks to WYAS for sending me a spreadsheet of the whole catalogue).

1888. Barnsley Chronicle 12 May 1888 reported on plans by Mr Henry Fountain to build a house on a plot of ground adjoining Darton Hall, on the site of part of the garden.

1892 Several papers of September 1892 report the death of Mr Fountain at Darton Hall (the residence of a Mr Poole or Pool) after being taken ill after walking from Barnsley to look at some alterations being done there.

It is not yet clear whether the Fountain family sold Darton Hall - whether the various doctors (see next) were tenants or owners. Miss Fountain who married Sir William Sutherland at Darton church in 1921, might have been the owner.

Sometime after this Darton Hall became the residence of doctors, several in succession:- Dr Walter White - he died 1899 aged only 49.....  Dr Pearce c.1907.... Dr & Mrs Ramsay Millar in the 1920s and 1930s. Dr Drake in the 1940s was advertising for an assistant. Panel and private practice. Car provided (Tel. 8) (all from various newspapers).

Image: thanks to British Newspaper Archive

1953 Yorkshire Evening Post 18 Sept, 1953 carried a photo of the "400-year old mansion" and a report that Mr C M Sunderland the caretaker of the nearby school had bought it after it had stood empty for a year or so, and had planned to live in it with his family, but, being required by his employers to live in the caretaker's house on the school site, he was now trying to sell it for £2,000 but was finding that people said it was too big. Another newspaper report about a month later states that Mr Sunderland had sold it to J Graham (Furnishers) Ltd of Barnsley.

In August 1955 Darton Hall was for sale again, described as a charming old world residence of character, part believed built in 1492, freehold, six bedrooms, room for garage, very reasonable price. (Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer 13 Aug. 1955).

1964. Coal Board Records in Nat Archives:- Alleged subsidence damage: G W E Craven; Darton Hall. Includes 46 photographs depicting: Subsidence damage at Darton Hall, near Barnsley. I have not seen these.