Newland Estate lies in the valley of the River Calder between Alfofts and Stanley Ferry, and is one of the very few estates in the area that can be traced back through documents which have survived and span 900 years. Occupation of the site dates back at least to the Bronze Age, and is believed to have been the site of a Roman villa or camp. Large amounts of Roman pottery and coins were extracted from the site on the 1997 archaeological dig. Evidence of an iron ore mine has also been found on the estate which is could be connected to the henge at Birkwood Common, both sites connect via a footpath which is heavy in metal deposits suggesting that there could have been a Roman foundry at the henge with ore being taken from Newland to the henge site due to the vast amounts of easily accessible coal that breaks to the surface along the ridge down towards the River. There is no direct evidence proving authenticity of a foundry, or that the henge was a worked site, however, individuals (including Paul Dainton) have given this theory calculated thought, and with information available believe this to be a strong possibility. The estate in its present form was established in 1213 by King John of England and belonged to a community of Knights Templar up to the year 1256 when it was transferred to a similar organisation called the Knights Hospitallers. A preceptory was historically the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller and Templar which was governed by a preceptor, who was answerable to the Grand Master of the order. A preceptory's main focus would be its church and accommodation for the brethren.The earliest known preceptor of the Knights Hospitallers at Newland was Simon Paccable in 1313. Within the order there were three ranks, first there was the Knights of Justice. These were the fighting men who had taken oaths of poverty. They took their vows and made their profession for life. Secondly there was the Chaplain; they were limited to the priesthood. The third being Serving Brother, this was in two sections; that of Serving Brothers at Arms who were solders and the Free Serving Brothers who were administrative officials. These three ranks qualified as members of the order, and were known as Military friars.

 

 

Newland Hall with stable block to right

 

 

Outside the order were the manual workers and hired servants who had no official status, some of whom would have come from the surrounding villages of Stanley, Altofts and Normanton. They were known as the fraternity or fray, a body of men and woman who helped support the interests of the order, in return they received freedom from tolls through out the area and other such gifts, and it is believed to be such a body who gave land in Normanton to the order in the late 12th Century. By way of these men the surrounding community’s economies would have benefited enormously from Newland. By 1338 the fraternity was providing a large part of the income of the Commandery of Newland.The estate was once held by the Levett family, and William Levett, who was lord of the manor, was admitted tenant of the Knights Hospitallers on October 2nd 1447. The property belonging to the Hospitallers was dissolved by King Henry viii who bestowed the property upon himself in 1544. He then sold the estate in 1546 to a Mr Bunny of Newton.  In 1694 the estate was bought by the Silvester family and Newland Hall was built around 1740, replacing a more modest farmhouse. 

 

 

The back of Newland Hall around 1900

 

 

The hall had 54 rooms and was one of the grandest buildings in the area. The last owners of the hall were William Locke and John Warrington who opened the Saint Johns Colliery at Newland in 1870. By 1917 the Hall was in a poor state, it was thought to be in danger by the owners and demolished.  In 1926 the Estate was bought by The Warmfield Company Limited who ran the nearby brickworks up to the 1950s.  The stable block of the Hall was lived in up to 1959 by a Mrs Gill of Heath House, who came to live there in 1920 with her husband, Manager of the nearby Saint Johns Colliery. This signalled the beginning of the end of Newland; in 1974 the once ancient independent township was taken into the newly formed Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. By this time the area had been deserted, and over the next 25 years saw much of its history ransacked by greedy owners who wanted to turn the site into a tip. Thankfully this was stopped by local campaigner Paul Dainton who was successful in leading a 3000 strong protest across the estate, raising awareness of the historical importance of the site. His work helped save Newland, which is now in the hands of farmer Andrew Hughes.

 

 

The abandoned stable block 1960s

 

 

In 2002 Andrew proposed to restore the estate by raising money from opencast mining on nearby land in the hope of making the several surviving buildings on the estate habitable once again. These range from agricultural buildings to grand houses. Unfortunately the scheme failed leaving no money to fund the rebuilding works, and two large holes where the opencast had started. These were flooded and are now known as Newland Lakes, attracting visitors from afar. However the biggest success story is that Andrew has returned much of the land to agriculture, building fences and re introducing livestock, and after rebuilding one of the houses on the site plans to re develop a second house once funding permits. The rest of the once grand estate is now kept as a nature reserve, within half a mile of the nearby toxic tip and Birkwood Hill, fortunately the ransacking of Newland has now stopped, a lot of history has been lost, however much still remains. What is needed now is for the site to be fully researched and documented, restoring and rebuilding what can be saved.

 

 

Stable block 2009

 

 

The boundary between Newland and Altofts which is situated near to the Calder is to this day still marked with stone pillars bearing the inscription “A By” This part of the hillside within Newland has been known in the past as “Friars Cliff” (i.e. that of the Friars or Hospitallers) and on the other side of the boundary as “Paron’s Cliff”. Two crossing point existed on the Calder here up to 1699 when the Calder was made navigable, which were the most direct route between Wakefield, the lower Calder valley and York. One was an ancient ford crossing that had been used by the Knight’s Hospitallers known as Hell Ford. It was marked by a stone inscribed with the double cross of the Hospitallers and was still in use in the 1660s, by this time it was mainly used to transport corn to market at Wakefield on Fridays. It is believed this crossing stopped when the building of a weir at Lake Lock caused the River to rise making the crossing impassable. The other crossing was a horse ferry that was upstream from Hell Ford; nearby to the pigeon cote (this existed up about 20 years ago) and the chapel (part of this still exists). The ferry was reached through a gateway in the fence leading down to the River via steps. The base of the stone gate post still survives but the steps are now gone, back then the River was much closer to Newland due to the lower river banks. The public use of this crossing point stopped in sometime around 1700 when the boatman from the rival crossing at Stanley Ferry persuaded the then owner of the estate not to allow his servants to take strangers over the River at Newland Boat. The crossing then became no more than a convenience for owners and eventually ceased to be used.

 

 

One of the surviving boundary stones

 

 

Some buildings that are of extreme interest that once stood on Newland include; The Brew house, this was situated near to the Calder, the site of this can be today be found next to the stream known as “Whiskey Beck”. It is possible the name of the beck came from the brewing that was done here. Then there’s the ice house, its exact location is not known but it is thought to have stood behind the large ruined detached house on the estate. The now demolished Pigeon Cote was an ancient building that stood on the edge of the woods, bordering on the site of the old piggery. There were two summerhouses on the estate; one stood at the highest point of the estate (some 200 feet above sea level) the foundation stones for this can still be seen in the ground. It is believed the site of this building is a man made raised circular platform, which could date back several thousand years; its original purpose is unknown. The second summerhouse that stood lower to the east has completely disappeared. The Gatehouse that stood at the entrance gates on the Calder side was ransacked some 20 years ago leaving only the foundations visible, this was known as Stanley Lodge and was situated to the left of the gates (facing Newland from the Calder), it was lived in up to the 1950s.

 

 

Stanley Lodge

 

 

From here if you walk up towards the high point of the estate you would have come across a large gate, halfway up the hillside, the only evidence for this is the hinge stone that lies beside the path. If instead of walking up the hill from the gate house you take the path to the right passed the walled gardens towards the site of the hall you will come to the ancient “Shackles Well”.  The entire estate was surrounded by a large stone wall some 10ft in height, which was then clad with brick on the inside, most of this outer wall has now been robbed away leaving only a few feet in height of stone work. Within this wall at the top of the hill are a set of gate posts that were part of a road into the estate. Many of these ancient roads were altered in the 18 Century while the estate was in the hands of John Smith. He was responsible for great changes including the building of Newland Hall. On the south east boundary a second set of gate posts can be seen in the field, these were near to the Hell Ford and were part of another ancient road. Within the estate walls are the old halls walled gardens, these were full of fruit trees and in part had heated flues running through the walls enabling more exotic fruit trees to be grown. For almost 200 years Newland Hall was the grandest building on the site, replacing a more modest farmhouse. The hall had 54 rooms and was one of the grandest buildings in the area. The last owners of the hall were William Locke and John Warrington who opened the Saint Johns Colliery at Newland in 1870. By 1917 the Hall was in a poor state, it was thought to be in danger by the owners and demolished. On the Normanton entrance to the estate stood a house that had several outbuildings, this was demolished about 15 years ago after being empty for many years.

 

 

The Hall during demolition

Furniture from the house can be seen on the lawns, windows have also been removed

 

 

Several buildings have survived albeit in as ruins, since the 1970s the roofs, floors and stone work have all been stolen, leaving them in danger of collapsing. Probably the best known building to have survived is the stable block; this was built at the same time as the hall by John Smith and was converted into a house in the early 20th Century when the hall was demolished. The front stone work remains intact but the rear of the building has partly collapsed due to the roof being removed along with floor joists. The large stone agricultural building that stands opposite the stable the stable block shows several signs of rebuilding and later additions to the rear. Bricked up doorways that are several feet of the ground at the back of the building indicate that carts were loaded here, probably to take crops to market. It is the belief of many that the listed part of the building is too grand to be that of just an agricultural building and could pre date the parts that were built in the 1740s.

 

 

The inside walls of the farm building appear to be too grand to have been built for the purpose of housing cattle and are thought to date back further than the 1740s

 

 

Also some of the first floor rooms in this building had plastered walls, a sign that at least part of them was lived in. Stories of cellars in this part of the building have also been told, an elderly gentleman from Alfofts claims to remember the steps leading down to the cellars in the early part of the 20th Century. Along the south side of the building is a large stone archway that led into the central roofed area, cattle would have been brought in here during the winter months until spring. Next to this building is a large brick built detached house that was lived in by the “pig woman” this was also occupied into living memory and during World War Two a hidden pig enclosure was built in the fields below the house. This was so that the noble folk could avoid having to live solely on rations. The enclosure was totally invisible to inspectors who made regular visits to the estate.

 

 

The "pig womans" house, this was lived in up to the 1960s

 

 

Perhaps the most interesting building that survives is the suspected ancient chapel ruins. It is a building to the rear of the large agricultural building that is built on a much lower level than the surrounding buildings. If it is the old chapel site it is very likely the building has gone through various stages of rebuilding as the inner wall on one part has been relined with newer bricks at some stage. On the floor is what appears to be the remains of a large circular stone bowl that is broken into several sections, possibly medievil in date. It is documented that the bodies of Knights were removed from the chapel and reburied else where after it fell from use. The white farm house on the estate was rebuilt several years ago and is now lived in by the farmer Andrew Hughes, south of this building is a second detached house that Andrew has plans to rebuild once funding is secured.

 

 

Section of the stone bowl which was found inside the suspected chapel site

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newland Residents and workers 1935

Photo taken during King George V Jubilee celebrations and given to the residents by Saint Johns Colliery manager Mr Gill who resided at Newland Park, commemorative mugs were given during the celebrations. Photo courtesy of Paul Dainton

Back Row; three members of the Shaw family, Gill family servant, Ruth Akers (saluting), Gill family servent, two unknowns, Sydney Mcguire.

Row Standing; Mr Akers (farmer), 5 members of the Moore family, Mrs Mcguire, Lilly and Nelly Mcguire, two unknowns

Seated Row; Nanny to Gill family, Mr and Mrs Shaw, Mr and Mrs Gill, Mr and Mrs Moore, Mr and Mrs Mcguire senior, nurse with Mrs Gills baby.

Front row children; George, Kathleen Mcguire, family of Mr and Mrs Gill

 

 

These photos show just how much of the estate has been robbed in the last 25 years, all these building now have no roofs or are no longer standing. Thank you to Paul Dainton for these photos that he took around the time of the 1984 - 85 miners strike. This selection of photos show the large farm building that still stands at Newland, others include the stable block and outbuildings. The roofs and floors have now however been destroyed leaving only the walls standing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First floor

 

 

First floor

 

 

The wall on the left is the inner courtyard wall, the wall on the right is the external wall

 

 

Shield is the mark of the Knights Hospitallers who owned the estate almost 800 years ago. This section of the building which is the inner courtyard wall still stands today, the shields have now gone

 

 

Inner courtyard walls, all the timbers in the foreground structure have now gone

 

 

 

 

The back of the Stable Block, large sections of the back wall have now collapsed, the chimney stack survives

 

 

Front of the Stable Block

The bay window cills and window frames have since been destroyed

 

 

Stable block outbuilding bearing the cross of the Knights Templar

 

 

This house still stands, the current owner of Newland plans to rebuild this house

 

 

Entrance into the Estate from the Altofts side

The buildings in the foreground have now gone. The white house in the distance has been rebuilt and is now the lived in farm house

 

 

 

 

Newland entrance gates, the stone gate pillars still survive. To the left of this photo stood Stanley lodge

 

 

Remains of the stable block

 

 

Remains of large farm building with central courtyard on the left, the stable block can just behind. In the distance is the rebuilt farm house, the top of the hill in the background was the site of one of Newlands summer houses

 

 

Large farmbuildings to right with remains of large house to left

 

 

Rear of the large farmbuilding far left with remains of Laundry in foreground

 

 

Pig womans house far left with back of large farm building to centre of photo

 

 

Inner courtyard of farmbuildings