Editing Wentworth Woodhouse (section)

===Sale by the Fitzwilliam family===
By 1989, Wentworth Woodhouse was in a poor state of repair. With the polytechnic no longer a tenant, and with the family no longer requiring the house, the family trustees decided to sell it and the {{convert|70|acre|ha}} surrounding it, but retained the Wentworth Estate's {{convert|15000|acre|ha}} of land. The house was bought by locally born businessman [[Wensley Haydon-Baillie|Wensley Grosvenor Haydon-Baillie]], who started a programme of restoration, but a business failure saw it repossessed by a Swiss bank and put back on the market in 1998.<ref>Bailey 2007:451.</ref> Clifford Newbold (July 1926 – April 2015),<ref>''Rotherham Advertiser'', 6 May 2015</ref> an architect from Highgate, bought it for something over £1.5&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.britannia.com/history/wwwood.html |title=English Country Houses News: Wentworth Woodhouse<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=11 February 2007 |archive-date=20 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320075413/http://www.britannia.com/history/wwwood.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Newbold progressed with a programme of renovation and restoration, as described in ''Country Life'' magazine dated 17 and 24 February 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.futurecontenthub.com/brand/Country%20Life|title=Future PLC – Content and Brand Licensing. Stock photos, stock images and image library|website=www.futurecontenthub.com|accessdate=8 January 2022}}</ref>  The surrounding parkland is owned by the Wentworth Estates.

In 2014, the house was informally offered for sale by Newbold, with no price specified, but a figure of around £7&nbsp;million was thought to be sought according to ''[[The Times]]''. The house was reported to need works of around £40&nbsp;million.<ref>''[[The Times]]'', 1 November 2014</ref> Following Newbold's death, the house was advertised for sale in May 2015 via [[Savills]] with an asking price of £8&nbsp;million.<ref name="The Telegraph">{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/11610079/Amazing-country-houses-fit-for-Mr-Darcy.html | title=Where would Mr Darcy live now? Jane Austen's 'Pemberley' is on sale | work=The Telegraph | date=17 May 2015 | access-date=18 May 2015}}</ref> In February 2016, it was sold to the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust (WWPT) for £7&nbsp;million after a potential sale to the Hong Kong-based Lake House Group fell through.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-35490403 |title=Wentworth Woodhouse sold to conservation group for £7m |work=BBC News |date=4 February 2016|access-date=24 November 2016}}</ref>

On 23 November 2016, in the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer|United Kingdom Chancellor's]] [[Budget#United Kingdom|budget]] statement of November 2016, it was announced that the Trust was to receive a grant of £7.6&nbsp;million for restoration work;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/24/inside-wentworth-woodhouse-a-key-piece-of-northern-heritage |title=Why did the chancellor stump up £7.6m for Wentworth Woodhouse? |first=Helen |last=Pidd |newspaper=The Guardian |date=24 November 2016 |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref> the Chancellor [[Philip Hammond]] noted a claim that the property had been [[Jane Austen]]'s inspiration for [[Pemberley]] in her novel ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wentworth Woodhouse awarded £7.6m in Autumn Statement|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-38077584|access-date=24 November 2016|work=BBC News|date=23 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Elliott|first1=Larry|title=Autumn statement more Fifty Shades of Grey than Pride and Prejudice|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/23/autumn-statement-more-fifty-shades-of-grey-than-pride-and-prejudice|access-date=24 November 2016|work=The Guardian|date=23 November 2016}}</ref> It was thought that there might have been a connection to the house because Austen uses the name Fitzwilliam in her novel, but following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement the [[Jane Austen Society]] dismissed the likelihood, given the absence of any evidence that she had visited the estate.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/23/jane-austen-inspiration-receives-76m-funding-in-autumn-statement-wentworth-woodhouse|title='No evidence' Jane Austen ever went to stately home mentioned in autumn statement|access-date=24 November 2016|work=The Guardian|date=23 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="The Telegraph"/>

Welcoming the grant, Conservative MP [[Jacob Rees-Mogg]] dismissed a widely circulated meme claiming that his family benefited from it.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/news/bath-news/jacob-rees-mogg-meme-claiming-35885 |title=Jacob Rees-Mogg meme claiming MP profits from £7.6m Wentworth Woodhouse job deemed 'nonsense' |first=Bethan |last=Moorcraft |newspaper=Bath Chronicle |date=26 April 2017 |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref>

As of 2022, the National Trust was working in partnership with the WWPT to support their ambitions for the site as a visitor attraction; the Trust does not own the property.<ref>{{cite web |title=Visit Wentworth Woodhouse |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/visit-wentworth-woodhouse |access-date=4 July 2022 |website=National Trust }}</ref>