They call it “the workers’ stately home” and Wortley Hall lives up to its billing. For once, we can say that nothing is too good for the workers. For centuries it was the seat of the coal-owning Earls of Wharncliffe, set among broad, rolling acres in the Pennine foothills north of Sheffield, where they lived the life of the pampered gentry. All that changed with the Second World War, when Wortley was requisitioned first by the British Army and then a unit of black US servicemen who camped in the grounds while their white officers lived it up in the hall. Their various depredations left the building in a sorry state, and the cash-strapped fourth earl offered the lease to anyone who would take on the mammoth task of restoration. He did not expect the only bid would come from a remarkable man, Vin Williams, an ex-miner, local union leader in the 1926 General Strike, jailed for publishing a strike newspaper, a member of the Communist Party and admirer of the Soviet Union’s palaces of culture.
“Why should only the wealthy occupy grand houses?” he asked. On May 4 1950, in what was once Lady Wharncliffe’s sitting room, the bemused earl gave him the Hall on a 15-year lease, £50 rent for the first year and £500 thereafter. Renovation would be the work of trade union labour. A small army of volunteers restored and re-equipped the empty shell of the building, which was reborn in 1951 as “Labour’s Educational, Recreational and Holiday Home”. It was owned by shareholders who had to be members of a trade union, the Labour Party or similar labour movement organisations; no one could own more than 200 one shilling shares. All had one vote in the future of the enterprise. That principle survives today, though the shares cost £1 each, and I must declare an interest of owning 50.
Wortley has kept faith with its original ideals, although it has been extensively restored to its former grandeur. There are no barrack-style dorms for the men and women no longer have to kneel on the corridor floor to dry their hair. The grounds have been reinstated, and are the venue for the annual South Yorkshire Festival, bringing together unions, Labour and progressive voices on the first Saturday of July. Political education and training continues, and you can also get married there, too. Wortley Hall is a showpiece of what enterprise socialism can do when left to its own creative devices. Its 60-year history is celebrated in John Cornwell’s book, published to commemorate the long march from ruin to rural revelation. There were some political spats along the way – this is the left, after all – but it is still a compelling story of dedication by a group of working-class men and women who realised a dream through sheer, bloody hard work. They left us something to cherish and enjoy. Don’t just buy the book, go there and appreciate what they did for us.
