Graham Hobson retains Copyright of this article

 

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, Photocopying, recording or otherwise-unless the written permission of Graham Hobson the author has been given beforehand.

April 2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ralph Tunnicliffe of Dalton

Lord Malton, under Henry Flitcroft, employed Ralph Tunnicliffe to supervise the building of Wentworth Woodhouse between 1730 and 1740.

He made some changes, for the worse, to the original plans drawn up by Henry Flitcroft. As "R. Tunnicliffe, Architects", he had an engraving done on the East front which was done before the death of Henry Flitcroft. He was also responsible for the construction of The Great South Terrace. Indeed it was Ralph Tunnicliffe who was in charge when the bastion on The Great South Terrace collapsed in 1736. It would appear from reports that the cause of this collapse was incompetence on the part of Ralph Tunnicliffe, the reports make mention of "Mr Tunnicliffe having built it with neither clamps or troughs." The building of The Great Terrace was regarded as a very important project and evidently took preference over the building of the East front, work on the house was held up for a full season until The Great South Terrace was completed.

Ralph Tunnicliffe was responsible for the design of the original North and South wings that were added after the completion of the central block. These wings were only one and a half storeys high and were eventually re-designed by John Carr of York. It is the wings that John Carr designed that are in situ today and they look far superior to the wings that Ralph Tunnicliffe designed. The design and building of the new north and South wings was commissioned by William the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam.

 

 

Return to Index