Blyth Hall: The rise and fall of a grand country house on the border of Yorkshire

According to Revd John Raine in The History and Antiquities of Blyth (1860), Edward Mellish began to take down the old residence of Blyth Abbey in 1684. Then, in April of that year, he began building Blyth Hall. By June 22, 1685, he had spent over £2,000.

Timber was brought from nearby Sandbeck Park and bricks were made at Lindrick common. Raine adds: ‘Seven marble chimney-pieces cost 63l; and the sum total paid to June 30, 1685 was 4,108l 13s 111/4d…[Mellish] resided generally at Blyth Hall, took the position of a country gentleman and was high sheriff for the shire in 1692…’

Architectural details are aptly supplied by Nikolaus Pevsner in Buildings of England Nottinghamshire (1951: ‘H.M. Calvin suggests an attribution [for the building’s design] to Talman. Carr added a bay window drawing room with Adamish detail between the two towers in the 1770s (payments 1773 and 1776)…Quoins and (perhaps also around 1770) square turrets in the Burlingtonian taste on the four projections.’

Perhaps the best-known occupant of Blyth Hall was Henry Mellish often referred to as ‘Madcap Mellish’. He came into possession of the extensive Blyth estates at the age of 21 in 1803.

At Eton, he was famous for his love of the classics and his absolute dislike and contempt for all authority. He left there at 17 to enter the 18th Light Dragoons and later the 10th Hussars. One newspaper said he was ‘a true Regency Rake but an honourable one.’

Henry became a distinguished figure of the turf, and started out his career in 1801 when his horse Welshman ridden by Peirse won a match of 50 gns at Durham.

He was a born gambler and lost his money with as much nonchalance as he won it, losing £40,000 at one stage on the throw of a dice.

He won the St Leger with Sancho in 1804, and with Staveley in 1805. It was said the Colonel never made a bet of less than £500, and he so infected other sportsmen that the betting on the 1806 St Leger was unparalleled with over 1,000,000 guineas being laid two months before the race.

Colonel Mellish kept a splendid equipage for his arrival at race meets. He arrived ‘four white horses in hand’ pulling his ‘exquisitely painted’ barouche, ‘with outriders on steeds to match.’

Information on Mellish’s final period at Blyth Hall is given on the Hodsock Priory website: ‘…his alleged final bet was whether a pat of butter would stick to the ceiling of Blyth Hall dining room when he flicked it up with his knife. He was so drunk when he fired it that it failed to reach the ceiling.

He then had to organise a sale of the house, land and contents to go to live a quiet life down the road with his sensible sister, here at Hodsock.’ Henry Mellish died from dropsy on July 24, 1817.

The sale of the Blyth Estate and Hall was advertised in April 1805. To view the Hall it was necessary to purchase tickets from a London solicitor’s office.

Blyth Hall was acquired by Joshua Walker of Clifton, Rotherham, son of the founder of the Masborough Ironworks. Frederick Henry Walker (b. 1807) lived at Blyth Hall and he was High Sheriff of Notts 1852.

Several alarming stories concerning Mrs Walker of Blyth Hall appeared in many newspapers. On Saturday March 17 1877, she was fined £5, and £3 15s costs ‘for having cruelly illtreated and tortured seven horses, by not giving them sufficient fit and wholesome food, and having reduced the animals to ‘’living skeletons’’.’

During April 1881 she was found guilty of ‘pining six cows’ and fined £30, the highest money penalty Thetford Magistrates could inflict. The evidence of the defendant’s own servants, of the police and veterinary surgeon, showed that the animals had been systematically starved.

Her obituary published on February 1, 1889, said she had died the previous day and for a considerable number of years had owned and occupied Blyth Hall. It was added: ‘She was a lady known for her eccentric habits…One of her hobbies was that of keeping cats. Of these she had a large quantity of cats, the Hall fairly swarming with them.’

Over three days in October 1890, William Askew in conjunction with F. Bannister announced they would sell ‘the whole of the rare and costly effects in [Blyth Hall].’

Blyth Hall and estate were acquired by Francis Willey (later 1st Baron Barnby in 1922.). Born in Bradford in 1841, he ran the wool business, Francis Willey & Co. Ltd which had agencies around the world.

One account said that when Willey took over the Hall, it was more or less decayed and the grounds over run and neglected. Much restoration work took place under Willey’s directions. This provided noted postcard photographer Edgar Leonard Scrivens with an opportunity to take a batch of picturesque views of the house and grounds.

A number of events took place at Blyth Hall during Major Willey’s time. The grounds were thrown open on August 5, 1913 by Major and Mrs Willey for the 13th annual show of the Blyth Horticultural, Agricultural and Athletic Society.

The couple entertained a house party for the occasion and the Major presided at the luncheon which preceded the show. During February 1923 he celebrated his eighty second birthday by entertaining members of the Grove Hunt.

Lord Barnby died at Blyth Hall on February 16, 1929. His son, Francis Vernon Willey, 2nd Baron Barnby, took control and organised a number of sales.

He said: ‘The ownership of large properties – real estate – if properly attended to is too exacting of time, so I have decided to divest myself of all I can. I do not believe in absentee landlordism. The ownership of property involves responsibilities which should be lightly regarded.’

At a three-day sale of Blyth Hall’s contents in October 1929 the bidding did not reach high figures. Forty-six guineas were paid for a fine Queen Anne bedstead, a replica of one at Hampton Court, and a mahogany frame winged easy chair, the favourite of Lord Barnby, fetched ten guineas. Seventeen guineas was the highest bid for a mahogany and marqueterie suite. The sale was conducted by the London firm of John D. Wood & Co.

Blyth Hall had been bought, with the rest of the estate, in July 1929 by E.W.S. Bartlett, of Southerhay, Exeter and then offered for sale in December of the same year. Competition for the Hall began at the low figure of £2,000 and reached only £5,000 at which figure it was withdrawn.

A notice from July 24, 1930 revealed that ‘J.C. Lister, of Listerdale, Rotherham has purchased the fabric of Blyth Hall, with the exception of some inside fittings.’ Lister paid £675 for the property. He had purchased the park at an earlier sale.

Asked by a Yorkshire Post representative what he would do with it, he replied: ‘Live in it. I’ve bought it for sentimental reasons and I don’t want to see it pulled down.’

Sadly, after lying derelict for a number of years, Blyth Hall was demolished in the early 1970s and the site is presently occupied by a housing estate.