Willow Rook Mansion / Ledston Hall / Home of the Witch, Mary Panel before modernizing the interior

[@marcus6495]

That building is amazing mate. Nice to see the old photos of how it was years ago.

[@sharonthomas865]

Thank You Ricky, Great Video, Always be Careful and Stay Safe

[@juliepownall1063]

Hi Ricky huge that place loved that oven glad its being redeveloped 👍

[@tamzinehenriques9972]

It used to be an old school. My Dad was sent to school here from London when he was 6 years old. We visited a few years ago before he passed away. He was amazed that it had hardly changed and brought back lots of memories good and bad.

[@RixPixParaNation]

@@tamzinehenriques9972 aww Thank you so much for that snippet of information, lovely.

[@cindymcoldiron]

It is an honor to watch you show such dignity and compassion for these places. Living in the States I will probably never see these wonderful places except through videos like yours. Be safe and Be Blessed.

[@jazzman1626]

The building was used in 1968 to film an episode of Children’s Yorkshire TV’s Tom Grattan’s War. It was one of my favourite programs back then. I got the DVD of it when I was feeling nostalgic.

[@RixPixParaNation]

Wow, What an amazing piece of history, Love to.know more about the series too , Thank you so much Jazz Man

[@jazzman1626]

@@RixPixParaNation My pleasure. The DVDs of all of the Tom Grattan’s War is available on Amazon in one DVD case. There is only 26 episodes from between 1968 and 1970. Ledston Hall is featured in series 2, in the story beginning with The Terrible Townsends, with the mansion featured in the next episode; Robbery With Violence. Tom even ends up on the roof you show in this video! I’m going to watch that episode again, now I’ve seen your video ha ha. When I first watched it on TV, we only had a black and white telly and so when I got the DVDs, I watched it first with the colour turned off. The look of old tv is still there too, with the lines and spots etc. appearing. The colour needs to be turned down a bit anyway because of the way colour was filmed at that time, otherwise it’s a bit too reddish. I love the fact that they haven’t cleaned all the films flaws out of it.

[@julierutherford3150]

I used to live in Kippax, just across the fields from here. In the 1970s I used to go with a friend, to the equestrian centre, at Ledston hall, to watch the indoor show jumping. The big show jumping stars at the time competed, like Harvey Smith, David Harvey and the Whittaker family. I’ve never seen inside it though. I have a painting of the hall in the distance, painted on the last day of when it was a school.

[@RixPixParaNation]

Nice bit of history, Must of been great as a school, It's a lovely building. But I need to see inside now since it's conversion., l know kippax and garforth areas. Where do you live now, Great to have that painting too, Wow, Ricky.

[@julierutherford3150]

@@RixPixParaNationI now live in North Yorkshire, not far from Knaresborough. They had used an old photograph of some of the pupils, dressed in 18th century clothing as a backboard for the painting. They must’ve been in a drama group rehearsing for a play, I reckon.

[@RixPixParaNation]

Wow, That's interesting, Your living in a nice area now, you so much, Do you have any old photographs taken at the hall , or when it was a school Julie. 😊

[@julierutherford3150]

@@RixPixParaNation I’m afraid not. While we lived at the top of Kippax hill, we were living in Kippax hall (the Victorian one, not the Elizabethan one), which was quite spooky, and my mother swore it was haunted. That was also used as a school at one time.

[@RixPixParaNation]

@@julierutherford3150 Aww never mind Julie, Sounds great , love anywhere spooky 👻 Thanks again, Let me know of any other locations you know that could be interesting, that are still around , Thanks Julie .

[@cindymcoldiron]

That cook stove was beautiful! My grandparents had one that covered one entire wall. I loved that it was blue/black and always smelled of bread.

[@jonathanfletcher1824]

I used to go to the village school so can fill you in on information. The house was used by the army in the Second World War, having been instructed to do so by the government. The house was owned by the wheeler family who basically all died off I met him when was a child at the school. They couldn’t afford to keep up with it. Its interesting to see inside as I’ve never been in, although we used to go into the chapel all the time with the school and services would held there, this was in the late eighties. After the war it was used as boarding school for naughty boys, that’s was it’s official title. Nowadays it’s a young offenders institution of course. That is what the sinks and baths were from ,they must be the wash rooms for the boys. It may date back to the army before that. If you noticed the bars on the windows and the barbed wire to keep people in not out. The dinner lady at the school was in her eighties her husband used to be the local policeman in the village there were several escapes from the boarding school which he had to investigate, there were also two suicides of boys which he had to deal with. In reference to the tv programme , while filming some members of the production team stayed back late one night. The next morning the policeman was called to the site. Four members of the crew were in a terrible state having stopped back late. They refused to work there again having seen things that they couldn’t explain, they refused to say what it was that had frighted them so much. All the other crew members would also not stay back late. That story is 100% true and was well known in the village at that time. The pub in the village is called the white horse because of a ghost of a white horse that was seen near the pub which is also well known in the village. It was a fascinating place to grow up also the school was owned by the estate and had something called a punishment book. There we’re several books dating back to the 1700 up to the present day, it would detail corporal punishment and the reasons for it, this would include how many lashes of the cane it was still in use at that time minus the cane of course I wonder if they still have a punishment book and where the old ones are. It will now be apartments and nice place to live however there’s always been strange things going on up there I have several more stories that were told to me which go back many years. So if you buy an apartment be aware of the spirits that live there. Stay safe

[@RixPixParaNation]

Wow, Thank you so much for your story full of so much info, I would love to know more if you have anymore on it and also the story of the Witch hanging on the hill would be interesting. Do you live locally now, I am based in Pontefract, Please get back to me, Or message me .My email is [e-mail]. Thanks again Jonathan.

[@jonathanfletcher1824]

@@RixPixParaNation The witch was called Mary panel as another response said the road from the kippax crossroads to the Allerton crossroads is known as the panel. It’s called this because the woods next to road is where Mary panel was burnt at the stake she was not hung. In those days if you were a bit strange or had a birth mark you were accused of being a witch. They felt that burning a witch would release bad spirits, therefore helping them . Thankfully we’ve moved on from that. People would watch this. To put it simply she was tied to a tree stump and burnt to death, pretty grim. Hanging was for criminals. There was also two graves in the woods from a car accident on the panel in the 1960s , I read in the evening post that they have been moved due to erosion, which was quite recently, you could check this out in the press. Weather local people still call it the panel I don’t know. People from Kippax would also call it the panel although it may have died out. I live in north Leeds these days we lived in Kippax when younger and then moved to Fairburn which is fairburn ings which is close to pontefract so you should know where it is. The road is the castleford road. She wasn’t executed near the hall. I would try to get in touch with the charitable trust which looked after the estate. The lady Elizebeth hasting trust. She owned the estate hundreds of years ago and set up the trust. I think it still going get in touch with the parish of ledston and ledsham as they will know. Someone will be able to give you more information. The punishment books are worth a read I’ll look at your website to see how get on. The hall is the past for me but is in the future for you. It may take a bit of work to find the full story. Good luck Water

[@emilyjayne77]

Wow beautiful place! You move to fast when you’re excited Ricky 😄

[@emilyjayne77]

The spiral staircase is amazing

[@RixPixParaNation]

I know,I do get a bit like that Millie , The staircase was one of my favourite parts .😎

[@RixPixParaNation]

I had to be very fast this time round as I sneaked into the building as the surveyor's were outside having a break , So captured as much as I could before their return lol. 🤫

[@RixPixParaNation]

@@emilyjayne77 yes its lovely isnt it

[@emilyjayne77]

@@RixPixParaNation 😆 you have to grab what you can, when you have a chance! Great video!! I’d love to go there.

[@burningsandsexploration3711]

This is brilliant!! I loved watching this video. This place is absutely amazing. Im so glad it's being redeveloped and brought back to life. I would so live there! Thanks for this!

[@RixPixParaNation]

Thank you so much 😇

[@dylanswfc99]

Lovely video mate 🙌🏻

[@RixPixParaNation]

Thanks 😎

[@RixPixParaNation]

Hi guys this has since been converted into very expensive apartments 😮

[@Roscoe.P.Coldchain]

Still can’t find this elusive lady, I walk in the woods regular

[@RixPixParaNation]

She may be in the old hall area near the edge of the woods ..Some of the ruins still remain but hidden from view on someone's property. 🤔

[@MrFacproductions]

I worked on the remediation project. In their is a church where I belive Mary body was once in. Send me a pm send ya the pics

[@RixPixParaNation]

I will do,Thank you

[@MrFacproductions]

You boys missed the church inside