User:Rossington Hall

Rossington Hall is a Victorian Stately Home originally built in 1773, on approximately 250 acres of land, in the outskirts of Doncaster. It is a Grade II building.

1771 James Stovin Up to 1771, the land that is now Rossington Hall and its Estate, was part of Rossington Common. In this year, Doncaster Corporation elected Mr James Stovin as town clerk and a year after that, leased him the Rossington Estate for an annual rent of 10 shillings. He built a ‘Pleasant Seat’ in the form of a mansion, which he named ‘Shooters Hill’. The name derived from the rich shooting country. The land originally belonged to the Salvyn family and was let to the Earl of Northumberland during the reign of Henry VI. It was thought that Stovin underestimate the cost of the project and was at so much expense, he petitioned to the corporation to take back his lease. Unfortunately for him, they did not grant this. In 1778, James Stovin’s uncle sadly died, however left him a considerable estate at Whitgift which saved him from more debt. He then moved to this place and let the remainder of his lease to Mr. Da Costa, who then let the mansion to a farmer named Mr Davies. He was said to have introduced the Leicestershire breed of sheep into the area. 1801 Michael Humble In 1801, Michael Humble Esq made some great additions to the house. He enlarged offices, plantations and developed the gardens. It was here where he lived for 20 years in his beautiful mansion with his family. He then let the house to the Hilton family, a gazetteer of the West Riding showed the new tenant to be Major Hilton in 1822. A similar cutting in 1838 shows Richard Francis Alexander Freeman Esq to be the new occupier. In this same year however, Doncaster Council decided to sell the Rossington Estate by auction in order to pay off the corporation debts. On the 25th October, 1838, the auction was held at the Mansion House where the highest initial bid came in at £74,000. The Town Clerk then declared the reserve price of £120,000. 1838 James Brown On the 13th December, another auction was held, and after much competition, the mansion was bought by Leeds Woolen manufacturer. James Browne Esq. He bought it for a figure believed to be £99,197 18s 6d. Mr Freeman then have to vacate the building to allow Mr Brown and his family to move in. July 1st 1845 saw the death of James Brown at just 59. The estate was then passed onto his son, James Brown Junior. He was extremely strict and the first thing he did as the new squire was revoke the licence of the Corporation Arms. By doing this, business dramatically dropped. He occupied the home until he died unmarried on 19th April 1877. The estate was then divided, when the nephew of James Brown, Richard James Streatfield, inherited Shooters Hill.

The Fire 1879-1881

Although there is little information to be found, it is believed that around this time scale, the original building was destroyed by fire. The information is very vague and how the fire happened or which parts of the building it actually destroyed is not documented.

The Streatfeild Family

The new house which was built after the fire, was ready for occupation in 1883. The house was now under the new ownership of the Streatfeild family. Richard James Streatfeild (1844-1931) was the son of Charlotte Anne Brown (daughter of the previous owner, James Browne). In 1865 James Streatfield, as he preferred to be called, married Mary Williams Scarlett. She was the sister of Rev. J. Scarlett who later became Rector at the local St. Michael’s Church. It is said that James brought about the idea of inventing an apparatus for postage stamps to be exchanged for a coin or token. Followed by exchanging a coin for water supply. He was regarded as a ‘good and obedient Churchman’ and did a lot to help the local community for example working for the Yorkshire Institution for the Deaf and Doncaster Infirmary. He liked to hold many social gatherings at Rossington Hall such as meetings for the Grove Hunt, and political garden parties. He also liked to entertain the members of the Dragoons. During the time of Richard Streatfeild, the building seemed to lose its name of ‘The Mansion’ and ‘Shooters Hill’. It then became known as the name that still stands today of ‘Rossington Hall’.

The new building incorporated a portico, entrance hall, dining room, library, staircase hall, conservatory, drawing room, two sitting rooms, billiards room, 22 principal and secondary bedrooms and a bathroom. This was built at a cost of £60,000. Richard James Streatfeild lived here with his wife and only daughter Annette Streatfeild. It was said they carried out much work in order to help the village and parish. Sadly in January 1903, Mrs. Streatfeild died in Rossington Hall after suffering two strokes in her other home at Uckfield. Richard James Streatfeild also passed on in 1931 due to illness, although he wasn’t often seen after his wife died. Here’s and extract from the Doncaster Gazette at the time of R. J. Strearfeild’s death. Click to enlarge… Annette Streatfeild

Following the death of her father, Rossington Hall got passed down to Annette who became ‘tenant for life’.

It was thought that Annette was a keen church goer and the Streatfeilds had their own pew complete with crimson velvet curtains. She assessed her servants as they arrived from the hall to check they were in the adequate and correct uniform. She allowed the older female servants to wear navy blue or black, although the rule was a little more relaxed for the younger ones. She was however quite strict with this. Six years after her father passed on, Annette sadly died in 1937. Some rumours suggest that she still has a presence in the hall, and lives in the attic. The famous photograph of the ‘Ghost of Rossington Hall’ is said to be Annie, one link being with Annette. The White Fathers

In 1939, the hall was sold again at auction to the Roman Catholic Order, known as The White Fathers, for a small sum of £5,000. They then used this as a training college for training missionary priests for Africa. During the last world War, the hall was under military requisition and also, an Indian regiment and Royal Veterinary Corps were based there. It was in 1946 when the military authorities released the premises and the White Fathers re-occupied the hall until 1948, when it was bought by Doncaster Corporation for £18,000. Due to the Education Act (1944), the local authorities decided that handicapped children should be dealt with on a regional basis and not just left down to the small minority of those in the authorities. It then therefore, albeit much after, became a special school in 1953.

The Opening Of The School

The school opened in 1953, and in the brochure found at the opening ceremony, described the school as ‘a school for children requiring special educational treatment’ although Mr Lovatt (head teacher) preferred to describe it as a place for those with difficulties in learning.

1969

In 1969, an article in the Evening Post was published with a headline ‘Not so much a school, more a way of life.’ The article describes the school to be a joyful place; one which will hold many happy memories for the future. The article also says how the extension work began around this time (to cost around £46,000), to create more classrooms and areas for the children. Although the school was purposely opened for children with special needs (this could have been those suffering from epilepsy, sight problems, hearing problems or speech deficits for example), the school can only be described as somewhere full of enthusiasm and cheerful chatty children. Mr Payne, the headmaster at this time, speaks openly about the school and states ‘we are here because of inclination, because we love, in the proper sense of the word, these children’. Many of the teachers lived in flats within the hall; therefore they were on call practically 24 hours a day to attend to the pupils. At one time, there were around 60 boarders (boys) living in the school and around 80 day children. At this time, the school also had many animals which the children looked after, and they often adopted animals from the RSPCA as well. This was all valuable learning for the children and gave them a different experience to the one they may have got at home. Saturday 29th April 1972, saw the opening of the Rossington Hall Swimming Pool. Fund raises and donations were needed in order to reach the figure of £8.000, which was the estimated cost of the pool. It was in 1984 that the stables were occupied by The South Yorkshire Apprentice Racing Training School and now more recently, taken over by Northern Racing College. They were also extremely sad to see the school go.

Closing Down Of The School

December 19th 2008 marked an unhappy time for all those involved with Rossington Hall School. All staff and pupils packed up for the Christmas holidays and said goodbye to their successful school and for some, loving home. Rossington special school ran for around 55 years and provided happy times for the staff and the pupils. The grounds were used for a short time by Stone Hill, a new school, until January 2009 when it moved to the brand new building in Scawsby. Most of the existing pupils and staff moved there from Rossington with the headmaster, Mr Leone. The grounds were unoccupied for some years after this point. Doncaster Council employed security to patrol the building 24 hours a day in order to ensure safety at the hall.

The Rossington Hall Restoration Project

In 2011 however, the Rossington Hall and its estate were sold to Mr and Mrs Gary and Michelle Gee. They have huge plans to restore the hall to its Victorian former glory, and create a wonderful hotel and wedding venue. Gary is very keen to turn the hall and the surrounding gardens back to how they were when it was of residence. The project is on-going and is expected to take approximately.