Hatfeild Hall, although originally built between 1598 and 1608 for Gervase Hatfeild and his wife Grace, has little Jacobean about it now.  Its arched windows typify the late eighteenth century gothic style and constitute much of its charm today. 

The Hall, most of which was built in 1775, remained in the Hatfeild family for almost 300 years.  It was then sold in 1897 at an auction in this Strafford Arms, Wakefield, for £3,750.

Since then, the Hall has had a turbulent history.  In 1928 it became a hospital for mentally handicapped women.  During this time, many nurses who worked at night told of an apparition of Annabel Hatfeild, a young girl clothed in a misty white shroud, who drowned in the garden pond over 100 years before.  From 1974 to 1982 it served as the administrative headquarters of the local health authority.  Latterly, the Hall was converted into a night club, before it was destroyed by arson on New Year’s Day 1987.

 

Designed in 1992 by Patrick Dawson, the architect of some of the holes on the famous Augusta National course in America, it offers a true test of golfing ability. 

Throughout the Hall’s history, a Mulberry tree has continued to thrive in the garden and still bears fruit today.  Legend has it that a cutting from the Hatfeild Hall Mulberry Tree was taken and planted in the grounds of Wakefield prison.  As it began to grow, the prisoners would exercise around it and to keep their spirits up, composed what later became the nursery rhyme, “ Here we go round the mulberry bush”.

 

The Hatfeild Hall of today has been tastefully restored, incorporating many of the regional designs.  This magnificent £1 million pound clubhouse and conferencing facility has retained much of its gothic charm, whilst ensuring the needs of the twenty first century or more than adequately met.

 

The 18 hole, 6200 yards championship golf course occupies some 145 acres of the Hatfeild Hall Estate.  A blend of parkland and elevations, the course incorporates impressive lakes and benefits from sympathetic preservations of long established trees and wildlife.  The large undulating greens are built to U. S. G. A. standards and complement the attractive and challenging course.