Anne Lister’s Shibden Hall, and a night at Holdsworth House
Tickets to Shibden Hall in your booking, ten minutes down the road. Dinner in our restaurant, a night in a house older than hers, and breakfast to follow.
Shibden Hall, the real Gentleman Jack
Anne Lister’s home until her death in 1840, now a museum run by Calderdale. The house, the gardens and the estate are where the BBC and HBO series was filmed. Your entry tickets are part of the booking; collect them at check-in.
Landowner, diarist, writer in code
Anne Lister (1791 to 1840) ran the Shibden estate, travelled across Europe and filled thousands of pages of diary, a good part of it in a code of Greek letters and algebra to record her relationships with women. Helena Whitbread broke the code in the 1980s, and Sally Wainwright’s Gentleman Jack shared her incredible life with a global audience. Anne would have loved it!
Two manor houses, two indomitable women
Elizabeth Wadsworth was a precursor of Anne Lister. She owned Holdsworth House in the late 1700s and early 1800s, a generation before Lister at Shibden: a savvy businesswoman and prolific diarist who paved the way for the women who would follow. Read about her, and more about Anne Lister, in the history of the house.
Dinner in the old house
£40 per person towards dinner in one of our three intimate dining rooms, which form part of the old house. Our à la carte changes with the season, and with the chefs’ daily specials there’s always something for everyone. We can also cater for almost all dietary requirements on request.
Beds with history
Thirty-two rooms, no two the same. Each has been lovingly decorated, from the William Morris wallpaper to the writing desk. Hint: ask for a room with a four-poster or half-tester bed for the full historic experience.
Breakfast, then Halifax
Breakfast cooked to order, then the town: the Piece Hall, the Minster where Lister is buried, and the Anne Lister trail through the streets she walked.
Who was Anne Lister?
Anne Lister (1791 to 1840) was a Halifax landowner, industrialist and prolific diarist who lived at Shibden Hall for most of her life. Over roughly three decades she filled thousands of pages of diaries with detailed accounts of her business dealings, her travels across Europe and her personal life. A significant portion was written in a secret code combining Greek letters and mathematical symbols, a system she used partly to record her relationships with women at a time when doing so openly would have been dangerous.
Lister openly defied the conventions of her era, eventually entering into a long-term relationship with fellow landowner Ann Walker and effectively living as a married couple at Shibden Hall, decades before such relationships had any form of legal recognition. Local people of the time referred to her, not always kindly, as “Gentleman Jack”, a nickname that later gave its name to Sally Wainwright’s television adaptation of her life, starring Suranne Jones and filmed largely at Shibden Hall itself.
Her coded diaries remained largely unreadable until the Halifax historian Helena Whitbread began transcribing them in the 1980s, work that brought Lister’s story to a much wider audience and paved the way for the series. Shibden Hall, her ancestral home, sits in around 90 acres of parkland that was landscaped under her direction. Today there is a café, a miniature railway, a boating lake, a pitch and putt course and woodland trails, and the Hall itself is preserved by Calderdale Council as a museum. It is a highly recommended visit during your stay.
Where the Halifax dramas come to stay
Sally Wainwright OBE has given Holdsworth House and the Yorkshire landscape around it a starring role on television more than once. Her BBC drama Riot Women was filmed in part at the hotel, and we welcomed members of the cast and crew during filming here and in Hebden Bridge, Halifax and Calderdale. One of our suites was transformed into a set for a scene in episode five: out went the bed, the furniture and the artwork, and in came the trolleys and hoists of a care home, down to the photo pinboard and the trinket boxes.
In 2022 the cast and crew of Happy Valley came back to Calderdale for the third and final series, including a scene filmed here, and over the three series many of the stars have stayed with us. Before that, Holdsworth House appeared in the final three episodes of the second series of the BAFTA-winning Last Tango in Halifax, when Caroline and Kate spent a romantic weekend at the hotel and Alan and Celia chose it as their wedding venue. Filming took place in the restaurant, the Hall and the gardens; our chef cooked the dishes the characters tucked into on screen, and our own wedding brochures were the props on the table.
So if you are here for Gentleman Jack, you are staying in a house that has a few television stories of its own. Ask at reception and someone will happily tell you which room was which. Film and television at Holdsworth House.
Other things to enjoy at Holdsworth House
Everything in the price, nothing hidden
- An overnight stay in a House double or twin room, bed and breakfast
- Entrance tickets to Shibden Hall for two
- £40 towards dinner in the restaurant, per adult
- Free parking and Wi-Fi
- To add when you book: a suite, a treatment at The Farmhouse Treatment Rooms, late check-out
Shibden Hall is open 1 March to 3 November: Saturday and Sunday 11am to 5pm, Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm. Your tickets give single entry on any open day during your stay; at busy weekends there can be a queue. Children get in free during the school summer holidays. Groups: ring 01422 240024.
Prices are per night for two sharing a House Double on our quietest nights, Sunday to Wednesday. Fridays, Saturdays and suites cost more; the booking page shows the exact price for your dates before you pay.
The £40 dining credit is towards food and does not apply to drinks. Paid in full when you book, refunded in full if you cancel seven days or more before arrival.
Shibden Hall is closed for the winter. The break is back on 1 March.
Check dates and book Or call 01422 240024- The booking page shows the exact price for your dates before you pay
- Add a suite, a treatment or extra nights on the way through
- Paid in full at booking, refundable up to seven days before arrival
A few more of the rooms you will use
Tap any photograph to see it full screen.
“The hotel is stunning; oozing character, history and stories. Didn’t want to leave, and definitely hope to return.”
LPS1981, Newcastle, on Tripadvisor, March 2026Seven questions, answered
How do we get the tickets?
They’re part of your booking. We confirm them by email and you collect them at check-in; show them at the door of Shibden Hall.
Do we need to book a time at Shibden Hall?
No. Entry is on any open day during your stay. At busy weekends there can be a queue at the door.
How far is it?
3.5 miles, about ten minutes by car, with free parking at Shibden. Reception can book a taxi.
Is the break available all year?
1 March to 3 November, when Shibden Hall is open. Outside those dates, book the dinner, bed and breakfast stay and walk the park, which is open all year.
What else is there for Gentleman Jack?
Halifax Minster, where Anne Lister is buried, and the Anne Lister trail through the town are ten minutes away; the Piece Hall the same. Reception has the list.
Does the room have a bath or a shower?
It depends on the room. Some have a bath with a shower over it, some a walk-in shower, and a few have both: the split-level suites all have a bath with a shower over it, three of the executive suites have a bath and a separate walk-in shower, and the other three a large walk-in shower. Tell us which you’d prefer when you book. If the room you’re given isn’t right, just say at reception and if there’s something else free we’ll happily move you.
What if we need to cancel?
Packages are paid in full when you book. Cancel seven days or more before arrival and the whole amount is refunded; inside seven days there is no refund. Ring reception on 01422 240024 if your dates need to move and we will do what we can.
If this is not quite the one
Brontë Country Escapefrom £186 a nightFull details
Overnight Stay With Dinnerfrom £214 a nightFull details
Ultimate Autumn Escapefrom £438, two nightsFull detailsPick a date, we will do the rest
Book direct for the best rate. Ring reception on 01422 240024 if you would rather talk it through, or if you are bringing more than two of you.
