Bretton Hall is a country house in West Bretton near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It housed Bretton Hall College from 1949 until 2001 and was a campus of the University of Leeds from 2001 to 2007. It is due to open as a second location of the Groucho Club in 2026. The hall is a Grade II* listed building.
History
In the 14th century the Bretton estate was owned by the Dronsfields and passed by marriage to the Wentworths in 1407. King Henry VIII spent three nights in the old hall and furnishings, draperies and panelling from his bedroom were moved to the new hall. A hall is marked on Christopher Saxton's 1577 map of Yorkshire. and were approved in April 2013.
In 2024 it was reported that the Groucho Club, a private members' club and renowned for its celebrity clientele, is set to open a new venue at Bretton Hall in 2026; marking its first permanent location outside London in the club's 39-year history.
Architecture
thumb|right|Bretton Hall's south range
The oldest part of the house, the south range, dates from about 1720 and was designed by the owner, Sir William Wentworth and Colonel James Moyser.
It was enlarged when the north range was added in the 1780s by William Lindley of Doncaster. A bow window and portico were added to the south range and the block linking the two ranges was remodelled between 1811 and 1814 by Jeffrey Wyatt for Colonel Thomas and Diana Beaumont. Around 1852 Thomas Richardson added the projecting dining room on the house's east front for Thomas Blackett Beaumont. The hall overlooks the River Dearne, which flows in an easterly direction through the parkland. The river is dammed to form two lakes. Oxley Bank, a linear earthwork, forms the park's eastern boundary. The redundant Grade II* listed St Bartholomew's Chapel, West Bretton built by William Wentworth in 1744 has been restored as gallery space.
The parkland is the home of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Bretton Country Park which has been a designated local nature reserve since 1994. The development of accommodation and car parks for the college and multiple use as a country and sculpture park and general neglect in the second half of the 20th century led to the historic landscape's fragmentation and it was designated "at risk" by English Heritage in 2009. Yorkshire Sculpture Park is now responsible for most of the park and, in partnership with Natural England, who provided funding, and English Heritage, has a conservation management plan for the park. Trees and scrub have been cleared to provide access to a lakeside perimeter walk.