Wentworth Woodhouse: Arts Society Guernsey Lecture

Wentworth Woodhouse
Lecturer: Sarah McLeod, OBE

The restoration of Wentworth Woodhouse is one of the most challenging historic restoration for a generation. The sheer scale of the site, the vast cost of the rescue and the fact that the site came without any endowment meant that for many, it seemed an impossible challenge.

During this presentation Sarah will provide a potted history of the site, the aristocratic family who built it, The Earls Fitzwilliam and the tragic downfall of the family and their home. She shall then move on to the campaign to save it, instigated by His Royal Highness the King, followed by details of the £30m worth of restoration that has since taken place.

Sarah’s career in heritage and culture spans over 30 years. Sarah was engaged as the first CEO of Wentworth Woodhouse in May 2017. Since taking on the role she has established a successful trading company and launched both the Wentworth Woodhouse Masterplan “A New Life” which details the £200 million regeneration programme for the site, and the WWPT Cultural Strategy which sets out an ambitious plan for the Trust’s work in diversity, access and inclusion, breaking down barriers to engagement in arts, culture and heritage. Sarah has lectured on the MSc Historic Buildings course at Cambridge University for the last 14 years she is a published writer and is currently co-authoring a book “The Public Country House” in conjunction with the Victoria & Albert Museum, The National Trust and UCL Press.
She was awarded an OBE in 2024 for Services to Heritage.

This lecture is kindly sponsored by Canaccord: