Wentworth Woodhouse restoration work reaches major milestone

  • Watch Martin Fisher's report.

There have been celebrations at South Yorkshire's stately home Wentworth Woodhouse today, to mark the completion of the latest phase of restoration works.

Just two years ago, parts of the Rotherham mansion were in danger of collapsing completely. But after thousands of hours worth of work and millions of pounds of investment, the Grade one listed building can now look to a much brighter future.

As part of the project, repairs have been carried out to the majority of the East Front of the mansion, which is now water tight. In total over 52,000 hours of work was carried out on the main front roof alone.

Julie Kenny from the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust, said: "Had the Trust not stepped in at the time, I am sure that certain historical parts of this house would have been lost forever, and we've managed to save them and protect them for the future."

The renovations started two years ago Credit: PA Images

The repair work has been funded by a £7.6 million pound grant from the Government.

But there is still a lot more work to do. A series of major projects will now be carried out to ensure repair work on every part of the house, including the water damaged interior, is completed.