West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service
Calverley Old Hall
Calverley Old Hall was the home of the Calverley family from the 12th to the 18th century. They were a prosperous Yorkshire family and developed the family house in line with the tastes of the time. Two sections only of the present building date to the early Tudor period: the hall and the chapel. They were probably built between 1485 and 1495.
The chapel has a balcony room reached directly from the family apartment in which the members of the Calverley family gathered for services. The rest of the household were expected to stand in the lower area, which maintained the social difference between the Calverleys and their servants.
The Calverley Tragedy
In 1604 the hall was the scene of an extraordinary incident which formed the basis of The Calverley Tragedy, a play once thought to have been written by William Shakespeare. It seems that in that year Sir Walter Calverley suffered some form of mental breakdown. He rushed through the house in a fit of rage and murdered two of his sons. He tried to stab his wife but the attempt failed as his knife glanced off the metal stays of the corset which she was wearing. Nevertheless the lady fainted with shock and Calverley, who thought that he had killed her, rode off to find his youngest son who was out with his wet nurse.
After a frantic ride the horse put its foot down a rabbit hole and fell over, trapping the rider beneath it. This allowed the household servants time to catch up with the unfortunate Calverley and tie him up. He was then sent to prison in Wakefield and then to York for trial. At the trial he refused to plead. This may indicate that his sanity had, at least to some degree returned. If he had been found guilty of murder his estates would have been confiscated by the Crown and his family would have lost everything.
As it was, he was tried not for murder, but for contempt of court and suffered an extreme punishment. He was pressed to death. This form of punishment involved laying the unfortunate victim out on a table top and placing a heavy oak door on top of him. The executioners then piled stones on top of the door until the life was crushed out of the prisoner.
It is also said that an old family servant was present at the execution. Moved by Calverley's pleas to get the torture over with, the old man began to quickly heap up more stones on the door. For this act of mercy in giving his former master a swift end, the servant was hanged for interfering with the course of justice.
Related Topics
Tudor Houses
Image Gallery
Calverley Old Hall
Calverley Old Hall: Chapel
Further Reading
RCHME, 1986, Rural Houses of West Yorkshire, pages 193-194
Emery, A., 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England: Volume I, Northern England, pages 321-323
This material was compiled by:
Dave Weldrake, Education Officer
Address:West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service,
Registry of Deeds,
Newstead Road, Wakefield WF1 2DE
Telephone: 01924 306809
Fax: 01924 306810
Email: dweldrake@wyjs.org.uk