Walk in the direction of Cawthorne - check the signposts - at a fork take the path on the left.
Soon you come to another gate which will take you into the village of Cawthorne
Cross over a field keeping in a straight direction and over a stile
Keep ahead with the hedge to your right and over another stile
Turn left when you reach the road, then turn right onto Church Lane.
You soon emerge onto a road. Turn left and pass the church to your left
Cannon Hall is a country house museum located between the villages of Cawthorne and High Hoyland some 5 miles (8 km) west of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. Originally the home of the Spencer and later the Spencer-Stanhope family, it now houses collections of fine furniture, paintings, ceramics and glassware. It at one time housed the Regimental Museum of the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) and the Light Dragoons, which has now closed.[1] Now occupying four rooms in the east wing is the "Family of Artists" exhibition on loan from the De Morgan Foundation, which draws on the links between the Spencer Stanhopes and the De Morgans.[2]
The building is constructed of coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings with a symmetrical layout of a central 3-storey block of 5 bays and slightly set back 2-storey side wings of 3 bays.[3]
Although there was a house on the site when the Domesday Survey of 1086 was conducted, Cannon Hall picked up its current name from the 13th-century inhabitant Gilbert Canun. By the late 14th century Cannon Hall was in the ownership of the Bosville family of Ardsley, now a suburb in south-east of Barnsley. It was during this period that the most violent event in Cannon Hall's history took place. The Bosvilles had let the Hall out to a family (whose name has been lost), the daughter of whom was romantically involved with a man named Lockwood. Lockwood had been involved in the murder of Sir John Elland, the High Sheriff of Yorkshire. The tenant, afraid of the position in which he could find himself accommodating a fugitive, sent word to Bosville. Bosville's men arrived at Cannon Hall, where the fugitive was slain in a cruel and violent manner.
Cannon Hall's history settled down after this notably unpleasant episode. In 1660 the estate was purchased by John Spencer, a Welsh hay-rake maker. The Spencer family had arrived in Yorkshire from Montgomeryshire in the Welsh borders, a safer place than Wales for those with Royalist sympathies such as those of the Spencers (John Spencer even managed to get a pardon from Charles II himself when John was held in York prison on manslaughter charges). The Spencer family became active in the local iron and coal industry - notably under John Spencer (died 1729) who took advantage of the death of his partners to establish control.[4] The family built a huge empire and funding the rebuilding of Cannon Hall.
The core of the present Cannon Hall was built at the opening of the 18th century for John Spencer Stanhope, possibly by John Etty of York, more surely with interior joinery by William Thornton, another well-known local craftsman. It was enlarged with the addition of wings in 1764–67 by the premier mid-Georgian architect working in Yorkshire, John Carr. Subsequently the wings were heightened, giving the rather high-blocked mass seen today. The last member of the family, Elizabeth, sold the house to Barnsley Council in 1951.
Cannon Hall Museum opened to the public in 1957.[5]
Cawthorne is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. The village was once the centre of a localised iron and coal mining industry, though today it is the centre of a very affluent commuter belt, west of Barnsley. At the 2001 census it had a population of 1,108,[2] increasing to 1,151 at the 2011 Census.[1]
The village has a choral society, a brass band,[3] a museum, a stately home (Cannon Hall), and a Young Farmers Club. The local charitable club, Cawthorne wives holds meetings and raises money for local and national charities. Young people are catered for by the Grass Roots drama club which produces an annual play ranging from comedy to Shakespeare. Every four years the village produces a Community Drama in the grounds of Cannon Hall involving the band, choral society and 100 actors from the village. In 2000 this was One Breath and in 2004 Time and Chance.[4] The village pub, the Spencer Arms is named from the village's association with the Spencer-Stanhope family who once owned large swathes of the local area. Their family home was Cannon Hall, the park of which borders the village. Cannon Hall is now a museum run by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council. Nearby visitor attractions include Cannon Hall Farm, as shown on Channel 5's weekly TV programme This Week on the Farm[5].
Two earlier residences in Cawthorne were Barnby Hall, home of the Barnby family, and Banks Hall, the seat of the Misses Spencer-Stanhope and of a branch of the Greene family.[6]
Cawthorne is frequented by ramblers as many excellent walking routes start from the village.[7]
The Victoria Jubilee Museum, built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, was opened in 1889 and contains numerous unusual exhibits including a stuffed cheetah and a two-headed lamb.[8]
All Saints Church overlooks the village, and there is a Methodist church on Darton Road. All Saints contains memorials to the Barnby[9] and Spencer families, among others.[10]
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