14 Monday June 13 2022 | the times
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sion, he conceded. “The [local author-
ity] said, ‘The three-pointed bays?
Absolutely not.” It’s because it’s so
different to the local architecture of
anything you’d see in Ireland. They
have a different configuration.”
Mitchell put the house up for sale on
Former Glory, an Irish property web-
site, describing it as a “unique opportu-
nity to purchase a dismantled manorLike DIY? Try the
£170,000 flatpack
mansion from 1640
pieces on farmland for 30 years, hopes
the sale will go through quickly, just in
time for him and his wife, Louise, to
move to Yorkshire for the birth of their
first grandchild in a fortnight.
“We’ve got somebody very interested
and they’re looking at shipping
options,” Mitchell said, adding that they
were one of several potential buyers.
The house dates to 1640, when it was
constructed at Alwoodley, now a
suburb of Leeds, by Sir Gervase Clifton,
a friend of Charles I.
In 1926, when Henry Barran
acquired the land and founded the
Sand Moor Golf Club, the house
became a home for groundkeepers. In
1969 the club obtained permission to
dismantle it and sell it to a local farmer.
Mitchell, the owner of a haulage
company, said the lack of instructions
on how to rebuild the house was barely
an obstacle. “We had some very clever
development company come round
and he said you can photograph it and
make it in a CAD (Computer-Aided
Design). He just seemed to think it
wasn’t an issue at all.”
He said his own ambition to rebuild
the house waned over time despite his
wife’s efforts in cleaning each piece of
stone in preparation for the build.
The owner would have more of a
problem obtaining planning permis-Jack Malvern
house with a rich history”. He said the
stone-mullioned windows, door lintels
and granite cobblestones were ready to
be transformed into “an individual
home oozing with charm and character
and steeped in history”.
Acknowledging one potential flaw,
he added: “I can’t guarantee every piece
of the jigsaw is here to recreate the
exact structure... viewing essential.”The House of Commons has made a
pledge to become a “menopause-
friendly” employer.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons
Speaker, is expected to sign the Well-
being of Women charity’s Menopause
Workplace Pledge today, which will
commit the House of Commons Ser-
vice to supporting affected employees.
Hoyle, 65, outlined aims to create a
culture of openness in discussions
around the subject, The Guardian
reported. He said: “I also want to break
the taboo... and get everyone in our
parliamentary village talking about the
menopause and offering support for
those going through it.
“After all, we men are the husbands,
partners, brothers, sons and colleagues
of those facing the menopause, so it is
particularly important that we are on
board as allies to offer our support.”
About 900,000 women have re-
signed from their jobs because of the
menopause, according to Wellbeing of
Women. Hoyle added that he did not
want staff to avoid promotion or leave
parliament because of symptoms,
which can include anxiety, mood
swings, brain fog and hot flushes.
In a survey by the Fawcett Society, 80
per cent of menopausal women said
their workplace had no basic support.
Some 41 per cent said symptoms were
treated as a joke by colleagues.Menopause
promise at
parliament
Nadeem BadshahBRYAN MEADESteve and Louise Mitchell want to sell the hall before their grandchild is bornFor sale: 17th-century English sand-
stone house with original timbers.
Drawbacks: it has been disassembled
and there are no instructions on how to
put it back together.
It has also been moved to Ireland,
where planning permission for an Eng-
lish house has so far proved impossible
to obtain, and there are no roof tiles or
floors. Despite this, the owner of
Alwoodley Hall believes he has found
someone willing to pay €200,
(£170,000) for the house he took to Co
Clare from West Yorkshire in 2002. The
buyer intends to transport the house,
which fits into eight articulated lorries,
50 miles across Ireland to rebuild it.
Steve Mitchell, who bought the
house in 1999 after it had been left in