Across the southern part of the ‘High Wolds’ (northern half of Yorkshire Wolds) four large period house all stand on roughly the same latitude, Sledmere House (see above), Thorpe Hall, Rudston, Boynton Hall and Sewerby Hall, the middle two standing in the ‘great valley’ of the Gypsey Race which has carved a west-east valley across the Wolds with its culverted exit now into Bridlington harbour.
Like a number of other large East Yorkshire houses Sledmere House (the most westerly of the four) has an H ground-plan, was built in the mid-to-late 18th century, retains most of its landscaped grounds and was owned by generations of a Roman Catholic family – as at Burton Constable the house at Sledmere incorporates a catholic chapel (s.p.b.). Since the initial block was built in 1751 on the site of a demolished medieval manor house Sledmere House has been in the possession of the Sykes family and the house is sometimes opened to the public. Although far-distant from the source quarries Sledmere, unlike the Holderness houses, was built of freestone, this signifying a colossal initial capital expenditure. In 1911 the interior was all but destroyed by fire, many of the historic items of furniture, paintings etc. being rescued by the prompt action of local villagers coming to the rescue in the face of the flames.
Sledmere village even today has all the hallmarks of a classic English estate village with some houses, initially for key estate workers, being themselves built on a grand scale. The historic village was ‘removed’ when the grounds of the House were landscaped to the design of ‘Capability’ Brown.
Good news – A good day, one hopes, for the thinking Englishman’s love of wildlife and farm animals as the government has had to guarantee (including my M.P.) a willingness to respect the notion of animal sentience post Brexit despite the E.C. commitment not being incorporated into a recent piece of national legislation. They argue that as an independent nation we can have better animal welfare laws, a point of view that is quite correct as the E.C. has been unwilling to prioritise animal welfare and very weak in enforcing what legislation it did have.