Around 1300 AD, the Wentworth family, who had taken their surname from the settlement, married the nearby Woodhouse family who had taken their name from their house!

The most famous member of this family, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (d.1641), was for a time chief minister of England. Although not guilty of any crime, he was executed in the Tower of London. His son, the 2nd Earl, had no children and the estates were inherited by a nephew, Thomas Watson Wentworth (d.1723). Generally called “His Honour Wentworth”, he commissioned Henry Flitcroft to design the extravagant re-modelling and extension of Wentworth Woodhouse, but died before seeing it realised. Thomas’ son, also named Thomas (d.1750), continued the building program and brought into being the longest frontage of a private house in the country, all 608 feet of it!