The Stately Homes of Whittle-le-Woods
We are all familiar with stately homes. Many of us will have trailed through National Trust properties, admiring the clutter of fine old furniture in the public rooms and the reconstructed meals in the kitchens. Still more will have enjoyed television dramas such as Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey, full of upper class shenanigans and rolling-eyed servants. Stately homes – or country houses, as they are more appropriately known – are still ubiquitous in the countryside, although many today are hotels, care homes, schools or apartment blocks rather than the residences of wealthy families. Even such a remote, hilly township as Whittle-le-Woods boasts two (former) country houses: Crook Hall (now Lisieux Hall) and Shaw Hill. In this article I will chart the contrasting histories of these two fine houses and will note how their rise and fall as private residences mirrors that of country houses across Britain. The British Country House To describe a pre-twentieth century count