Ilkley: Former monastery up for sale with £4.95m price tag

Myddelton Lodge was once used by Passionist monks before being restored and used as a retreat and a family home

A 16th Century house which was once used as a monastery and hunting lodge has gone on sale in West Yorkshire.

For hundreds of years, the Grade I-listed Myddelton Lodge was home to the Middletons, one of Ilkley's most famous families and landowners.

It was later sold to the Diocese of Leeds and used by Passionist monks before being restored and used as a Catholic retreat house and family home.

The 11-bedroomed property has gone on the market for £4.95m.

The building's former chapel has now been transformed into a living space

According to a Diocese of Leeds spokesperson, it was built as a hunting lodge by the Middleton family, who for centuries were Lords of the Manor of Ilkley, Middleton, and other estates in Yorkshires.

Historian David Carpenter said the house was built on the site of the medieval hamlet of Scalewray and was first mentioned in records in 1550 under its old name "Stubham Lodge".

The chapel was closed in 1893 and the estate was sold to the Passionist Fathers, who restored the chapel and reopened it in 1922.

The Passionists ran the lodge as a retreat centre until they transferred the estate to the Diocese of Leeds in 1985.

The house, which is set in six acres of land, was sold to a private buyer in the 1990s and was used as a youth and retreat centre between 2000 and 2016.

The house was once lived in by the Middleton family, Lords of the Manor of Ilkley

Dealing with the sale, Toby Cockroft, of Croft Residential, said: "The accommodation in Myddelton Lodge centres around the former chapel room, dating from around 1830, with its huge vaulted ceiling, stained glass window, and mezzanine.

"It is an extremely light room with large lancet windows allowing light to pour in. The other room of particular note is the former Great Chamber, now the drawing room, with its two grand fireplaces in adjacent corners of the room."