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Oakwood Hall

Oakwood Hall, in Rotherham, was believed to be one of the grandest houses erected in the city in Victorian times. Businessman James Yates was an iron and steel baron, born in Masborough in 1798. Having owned a number of large Rotherham properties as his business expanded, it was in 1856 that Yates decided to build his own... and purchased the local Lawtons Farm, beginning the construction of Oakwood Hall on the land immediately.

Before the Hall was finished, a fire broke out and gutted certain rooms of the incomplete building. Yates had to wait longer than he had anticipated to move in, but by 1859 the Hall was repaired and complete. He lived there for just over twenty years before his death. Yates' son had died in tragic barge accident many years earlier, although his daughter Elizabeth was eventually to inherit Oakwood Hall, and resided there with her husband for several years.

Oakwood was sold in the 1890's, and remained a family home until 1916 when work began to convert it into a Rehabilitation Centre for injured ex-servicemen. During this period it was again damaged by a sudden outbreak of fire, and closed soon afterwards... to be converted yet again, this time into a TB sanatorium. Today it is still used by the Health Service, as part of Rotherham District General Hospital.

The history of the building has been so varied that most people are not aware of its many uses throughout this century. In the late 1970's, a local security guard was on his rounds one night when he saw a gentleman making his way towards him along one of the corridors. Concerned that security regulations were being breached, the guard approached the gentleman, and clearly saw his World War I uniform... before he vanished into thin air.

The security guard ran away in terror and never returned to his post. Indeed, until several years after the incident, he had no idea that Oakwood Hall had once been used as a soldiers' Rehabilitation Centre. A drowning at Downe Court | Beavor | Bexley | Bradford | Downe Court | England | England | England | Hall place | Hardwick Hall | Haworth | Ireland | Lancashire | Norfolk | Penistone | Pontefract Town Hall | Rotherham | Salford | Scotland | Sheffield | West End | White Lady |