Inside creepy 400-year-old estate left abandoned and rotting for DECADES before it was transformed into luxury flats

The Sun

27-04-2025

AN HISTORIC mansion estate has been given a new lease of life following a long and varied journey dating back to the 16th century.
The South Yorkshire estate, known as Firbeck Hall, housed five families in its lifetime, as well as been a rehabilitation centre for miners, a country club, and an infirmary.
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It has now been restored into 19 luxury apartments, on 33 acres of exclusive private land for residents.
The mansion was constructed by and home to William West, a lawyer and author from Rotherham, who opened it in 1594.
It was then passed through several generations of the West family until 1669, before being sold to various other owners up until the First World War.
At this time, the Firbeck Estate and Hall had been handed over to the Miles Trust set up by Francis Harriet Miles.
In 1914, it became a base for Belgium refugees fleeing the war before becoming a residential family property again.
Then in 1934, when it was bought by Cyric Nicholson, the 1500 acre estate was gutted of its original features and reopened as Firbeck Hall Club.
Over the next five years, it became one of Europe's most exclusive country clubs featuring a mirror-walled bedroom, outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, a 18-hole gold course, restaurant, cocktail bar and even an aerodrome.
During this period, Firbeck welcomed high profile visitors from royalty like the Prince of Wales (future King Edward VIII), to female aviator Amy Johnson, as well as aristocrats and famous actors.
This has been considered Firbeck Hall's most iconic and "golden" era, where vogue models were known to pose by its pool, and BBC hosted their weekly Saturday show 'Light Night Dance Music'.
When the Second World War broke out, the hall was then taken over by the Sheffield Joint Hospitals Board in 1939.
Inside abandoned sanatorium
It not only became a hospital building with an annex for the Sheffield Royal Infirmary, but also an airfield holding for four RAF Firbeck squadrons until 1944.
After the war concluded, the Miners Welfare Commission took control of the hall for £30,000 to rehabilitate injured soldiers that had returned.
Known as the South Yorkshire Miners Rehabilitation Centre at this time, it is recorded to have held 70 patients around this time.
In 1984, the hospital was then taken over by the Trent Regional Health Authority that later closed the building at the end of that year.
Since closure, residents became concerned about the "state or repair" the building had fallen into as it was abandoned.
Over this time, many private owners expressed interest in site, but it was not until 2018 that planning permission was granted for its residential use.
Firbeck Hall is now a grade-II listed property with professionally and uniquely designed interiors for its apartments, located on a naturally rural setting.
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