Holdsworth House: History of Yorkshire’s 17th century mansion that has hosted famous guests including The Beatles for John Lennon’s 24th birthday and has been the filming location for Sally Wainwright’s popular series Happy Valley

Last year, Holdsworth House, Halifax, celebrated its Diamond anniversary across the year including an art competition that was judged by famous Yorkshire writer Sally Wainwright, known for her hit TV shows Gentleman Jack, Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax.

The Jacobean mansion is a Grade II listed building, made of sandstone with narrow, leaded windows and was first built in 1633.

The current Holdsworth House was initially used as a private members’ club, casino and dining business in the 1960s.

Director and owner of Holdsworth House, Nick Moss, whose grandfather and grandmother, Freddy and Rita Pearson, bought the mansion in 1962, described its popularity at the time.

“The main house dates back to 1633, but my grandfather and grandmother bought the house in 1962,” Mr Moss told The Yorkshire Post.

“They opened it in 1963 as the Cavalier Country Club which was a private members’ club dining and casino and we had a thousand members paying eight or 12 guineas a year.

“It was instantly very popular and it was their family home, so my mother and my sister lived here and they went on to take over the business when my grandfather passed away. We didn’t have any bedrooms to start with, it was just a members’ club.”

In 1964, The Beatles celebrated John Lennon’s 24th birthday at Holdsworth House.

“We never talk about the fact that the Beatles stayed here, we never mention it [Mr Moss joked]. It still carries a lot of weight,” he said.

“They were our first residential guests, certainly of any note. I know my mother and my aunt, who were about 12 and nine at the time, moved out of their bedrooms so the Beatles could stay. It was John Lennon’s 24th birthday.

“The Cavalier Country Club ran as it was, successfully, for a decade and then we slowly started adding bedrooms and extending the property and then it was towards the late 80s when it became Holdsworth House.”

It is thought that the house was built in 1598, although the stone above the front porch includes initials and date A.B. 1633.

In 1657, the owner Abraham Brigg sold it to Henry Wadsworth of Peacock House, Warley. The Wadsworth family owned the property for more than two hundred years, until 1895. Henry and his wife lived there for many years, until she died in 1745 and Henry died in 1765, their son Reverend John Wadsworth became the owner.

Various notable characters wrote diaries about the manor including Anne Lister who wrote from 1815 to 1840.

The mansion was passed to Matthew Ayrton and his wife Sarah Firth. His eldest son John Wadsworth, an architect, inherited the house when he died in 1860 and married Annie Eliza Hodgson. Sadly John died in 1877 at the age of 27 and Annie decided to rent the house and move to a smaller accommodation.

The house was rented until 1932 when the textile firm James Acroyd and Sons bought the property. The Hoyle family lived at Holdsworth House until 1962 when it was bought by the Pearson family who still own the property, which is now a hotel and restaurant.

“I’m third generation, so my mother is still very much involved. It has evolved massively, the hotel business alone has changed dramatically in the last 20 years, so many avenues for booking,” Mr Moss said.

“We follow the trend; we’re very much linked to the successes of Calderdale; as Calderdale grows as a tourist destination, we change too, we adapt what we do.”

Sally Wainwright cherry picked the mansion as a filming location for her 2012 TV series Last Tango in Halifax and since then she has had a close relationship with the Holdsworth House owners.

The property was featured in series two episode four which centred around Caroline (Sarah Lancashire) and Kate (Nina Sosanya), who spent a romantic weekend at the hotel and picked it as the wedding venue for Alan (Derek Jacobi) and Celia (Anne Reid).

Filming took place in the restaurant, hall, and gardens. Part of the last season of Happy Valley was also filmed there.

“We’ve got a great relationship with Sally [Wainwright] and we have done since the Last Tango in Halifax when we were lucky enough to have a few episodes filmed here,” Mr Moss said.

“Our general manager at the time wasn’t particularly keen on the idea. I think he felt that film crews can cause a bit of disruption but the feedback we had from it, it was my mum who pushed it through, increased our revenue.

“We had a scene filmed here for Happy Valley. Sally is very specific about where she wants to film. I think they tried other locations but she was like no, that’s not in the script, it has to be this place.

“Over the 60 years we've been very linked to Halifax and Calderdale; over the last 10 years our leisure business has really increased, people are discovering West Yorkshire.

“[Being the filming location for Sally Wainwright’s work has] 100 per cent had a huge impact, but it’s all encompassing. Long may it continue.”

Mr Moss has watched Happy Valley multiple times and has met the cast and Sally on several occasions.

He shared his first impressions of them.

“I’ve watched Happy Valley now three times and it’s brilliant every time you watch it. We’ve had James Norton staying here all three seasons,” he said.

“His character Tommy Lee Royce is a really nasty piece of work, which is not what James Norton is like, he’s lovely. There’s no relationship between James Norton and Tommy Lee Royce, they’re like chalk and cheese. We had a lot of cast members staying with us. We treat everybody the same, we don’t get starstruck.

“I’ve met Sally a couple of times, she’s lovely, she’s fantastic and she always replies quickly on email even though she must be so busy. She always has time [for us]. Sally loves Calderdale, she loves Halifax, and she only wants to show it in the best light, even Happy Valley, which is tough watching, there is still a love story there with Calderdale.

“Mum was looking forward and had absolute faith after she met Sally that it was going to be a hit and knew that would go on for years. TV shows don’t die. Every time Sally has another hit show, people revisit the things that they haven’t seen before.”