July 2025
The Speed sign update
I would like you to know that Jon Crook’s idea to source a battery for a fraction of the cost, has worked.
If you are doing over 30 Mph then shame on you and slow down please.
We are gaining children into the village and on that main stretch of road into Irnham where the speed camera is at present, there are resident children and grandchildren at times to consider.
We sill have the chicken run going on at the bend before the exit towards Bulby
Thank you in advance for your care whilst driving through our village. We might be small but we value our lives.
Bulby residents Visit to Wentworth House 
“But I just had to look having read the book “
The Beatles (Day in the Life)
So, having read “Black Diamonds – The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty” I felt compelled to go and see Wentworth House, the largest private residence ever built in England and the backdrop to Catherine Bailey`s memorable account of the Fitzwilliam family. The family home, massively enlarged as the wealth of the Earls of Fitzwilliam burgeoned, has 365 rooms and a frontage considerably larger than that of Buckingham Palace.
The gargantuan splendour of the house and its surrounding 15,000 acre park and farmland were sustained and constantly embellished by the mega profits generated by the ownership of the mineral rights to the Barnsley coal seam upon which the land stood.
Bailey`s account of the Fitzwilliam dynasty covers all nine of the Earls but focuses principally upon “Billy” the eighth and Peter, the ninth and final Earls. The book reveals vividly the stark contrast between the gilded lives of the aristocratic owners and the perilous and poverty-stricken lot of the miners who laboured to hew the coal and whose families provided the work force to sustain the house and the lush life style of the Fitzwilliam's. Bailey makes clear that, though many may now find the degree of this contrast disturbing, the Fitzwilliam's were regarded by their employees, both the miners and those working in a wide range of roles across the estate, as good employers.
Having selected the book as my choice at our monthly discussion group and shared my wish to visit Wentworth with fellow members, we formed a party of eight adults and two children to undertake the trip to South Yorkshire. We knew that the house had been massively damaged by the decision in 1947 of the then Minister of Fuel and Power, Manny (later Lord) Shinwell to subject the park to open cast mining right up to the doors of the house. Many at the time, and since, have viewed Shinwell`s decision as an act of class revenge.
The restoration of the grounds is still incomplete but the waste, piled into tips known as slag heaps, are gone and some sense of original splendour has been restored.
The interior of the house was also in much need of restoration. Peter, the ninth and last Earl, was a war hero and the lover of Catherine “Kick” Kennedy, sister to John F Kennedy who was later to become 35th President of the USA. Neither of these distinctions, nor his aristocratic heritage, saved him from the financial impact upon mine owners of the 1948 nationalisation of the coal industry. Government compensation went nowhere near to replicating the profits generated by the Wentworth pits and sustaining the house became burdensome. Only a few years after the financial blow of nationalisation and the steep costs of death duty paid upon the passing of his father, Peter himself died alongside Catherine Kennedy.
The private jet he had hired to take Catherine and himself to the French Riviera smashed into a mountain during a heavy storm. At this point the family ran out of male heirs and the Earldom ceased. The costs of the house could not be met by remaining family or subsequent owners and fell into decay.
Fortunately, a group of committed individuals, led and generously sponsored by Dame Julie Kenny, a self-made successful business woman from Sheffield and former Chair of the UK Commission for Employment, has restored some of the State rooms to their former glory.
Though no post visit evaluation has been undertaken, I feel sure that all of our group enjoyed their day out and would recommend both the book and a visit to this remarkable house.
By John Slater