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Where history, imagination and the English countryside meet.

Welcome to Noblethorpe Hall

Nestled in the countryside of South Yorkshire, near the historic village of Silkstone, Noblethorpe Hall will be our home for four unforgettable days in July 2027. With its elegant Georgian-inspired architecture, gracious interiors and secluded setting, the Hall offers a wonderful backdrop for stepping into the world of Regency England. Here, grand rooms become places for formal dinners and social gatherings, while quieter corners invite private conversations, whispered confidences and unexpected encounters. For the duration of the LARP In Perfect Confidence, Noblethorpe Hall will become the fictional home of Mr and Mrs Ashcombe’s Finishing School for Young Ladies, where several families have gathered ahead of an important society ball.

The House and Grounds

Noblethorpe Hall stands within approximately 18 acres of parkland, surrounded by the gently rolling landscape of South Yorkshire.Its grounds, with mature trees, open lawns and views across the surrounding countryside, provide opportunities for leisurely walks, outdoor conversations and moments of quiet reflection. Inside, the Hall offers an atmosphere well suited to the social rituals of Regency life: gathering for dinner, receiving visitors, making music, playing cards or finding a discreet place to exchange a confidence.

The house and grounds are more than a beautiful setting for our LARP. They will become part of the storytelling itself, offering spaces where friendships may deepen, rivalries emerge and secrets come to light.

A Glimpse into Noblethorpe’s History

Although the present Noblethorpe Hall dates largely from the nineteenth century, the estate itself has a much longer history. In the late eighteenth century, Noblethorpe was acquired by Jonas Clarke, a solicitor who recognised the commercial potential of the coal deposits beneath the surrounding land. He began developing mining operations, and the family’s interests gradually expanded across the Silkstone area. Around 1838, Jonas Clarke’s son Robert transformed the family’s earlier home into the substantial country house we recognise today. The new mansion reflected the wealth generated by the Clarke family’s expanding coal-mining activities.

Although this rebuilding took place approximately twenty years after our LARP’s setting of 1818, the Hall’s classical architecture draws upon Georgian traditions that were already well established during the Regency period. Its symmetrical façade, elegant proportions and decorative details therefore provide a wonderfully appropriate atmosphere for our story.

There is something particularly fitting about staging In Perfect Confidence at Noblethorpe. The real history of the estate combines country-house society, industrial ambition, changing fortunes and the rise of a wealthy family whose prosperity came from enterprise rather than ancient inheritance.

These are precisely the kinds of tensions that lie at the heart of our fictional world.

The Real History Behind Our Fiction

Real places. Imagined families. A world shaped by history.

Although the characters and their personal stories are fictional, the world of the LARP In Perfect Confidence is firmly rooted in the real history and geography of South Yorkshire. Our story takes place in 1818, at a time when established landed families lived alongside an increasingly prosperous class of merchants, industrialists and professionals. Family connections, property, marriage and social reputation were all closely intertwined.

Rather than inventing an entirely fictional county, we have drawn inspiration from real estates, villages, churches and industrial communities around Noblethorpe Hall. We have taken some creative liberties with their ownership and inhabitants, allowing our fictional families to live within a recognisable historical landscape.

Noblethorpe and the Clarke Family: From History to Fiction

One of our most direct historical inspirations comes from Noblethorpe itself. In 1818, the estate belonged to Jonas Clarke, whose growing mining interests were helping to establish the family’s wealth and influence in the Silkstone area. The historical Clarke family provides loose inspiration for the fictional Clarke family in the LARP. Like their real-life counterparts, our Clarkes are ambitious entrepreneurs whose prosperity is closely connected to South Yorkshire’s developing industries. However, we have deliberately changed their circumstances and place within the local community.

In our fictional version of 1818, Noblethorpe Hall is the home of the Ashcombe family and their finishing school, while the Clarkes live in Elsecar, where their industrial interests are closely associated with the Fitzwilliam estates.This allows us to draw upon the history of the real Clarke family without attempting to recreate their actual lives. Our fictional Clarkes are not intended as portraits of Jonas Clarke or his relatives. Their personalities, relationships, ambitions and secrets belong entirely to our own story. Instead, the historical family has inspired the broader themes of enterprise, new wealth and social advancement that shape their fictional counterparts.

Cannon Hall and the World of the Landed Gentry

A short distance from Noblethorpe lies Cannon Hall, an impressive country house near the village of Cawthorne. For centuries, Cannon Hall was associated with the Spencer and later Spencer Stanhope families, whose wealth was connected not only to landownership but also to the region’s iron industry. The house was substantially developed during the eighteenth century, becoming an elegant residence surrounded by landscaped grounds. In the LARP In Perfect Confidence, we have imagined Cannon Hall as the ancestral home of the fictional Harcourt family.The Harcourts represent the established landed gentry: a family whose standing rests upon ancestry, property and generations of local influence. Through them, we explore the expectations and responsibilities of inherited position, and the difficulties that arise when maintaining appearances becomes increasingly challenging.

Banks Hall and the Changing Social Order

The landscape around Cawthorne provides another important setting for our fictional society. We have chosen Banks Hall as the home of the Hartley family, prosperous members of the local gentry whose position reflects the changing relationship between land, business and social ambition. Unlike the Harcourts, whose standing is rooted in generations of inherited property, the Hartleys represent a family whose prosperity has more recent commercial origins.Their place within our story allows us to explore an important feature of Regency society: wealth could open many doors, but money and social standing were not always regarded as the same thing.

Elsecar: Industry, Ambition and New Fortunes

While country houses symbolised the established social order, the nearby village of Elsecar tells another side of South Yorkshire’s history. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Elsecar developed into an important centre of coal mining and iron production. Its industrial expansion was closely connected to the powerful Fitzwilliam family, whose estates included extensive mineral resources. Coal mines and ironworks transformed the local landscape and contributed to the family’s considerable wealth.

In our fictional world, Elsecar is home to the Clarke family, whose fortune comes from industry and enterprise rather than generations of inherited land. The Clarkes represent the opportunities and tensions of a changing society, where successful businessmen could become extremely wealthy while still facing questions about their social standing. Their story also draws upon the excitement surrounding new technology and investment during the early nineteenth century.

The Yorkshire Gas Light Company: Inspired by a Real Historical Enterprise

One of the business ventures featured in the LARP In Perfect Confidence is the fictional Yorkshire Gas Light Company, which we have deliberately based on the real Sheffield Gas Light Company, established by an Act of Parliament in 1818. At the time, gas lighting was an exciting new technology, offering the possibility of illuminating streets, factories and businesses more effectively than traditional candles and oil lamps. Establishing a gas company required considerable investment, engineering expertise and a willingness to take financial risks.

For our fictional company, we have retained the historical founding year, the ambition to introduce gas lighting to Sheffield and the opportunities and uncertainties associated with this emerging industry. However, we have invented our own investors, business relationships and personal stories. In our version of events, Mr Clarke, a wealthy ironmaster and engineer from Elsecar, plays a central role in the enterprise. Earl Fitzwilliam is among its prestigious investors, while the Ashcombe family of Noblethorpe Hall has committed substantial funds in the hope of securing its financial future.

Through the Yorkshire Gas Light Company, we explore how technological innovation and industrial ambition could influence family fortunes, social standing and personal relationships in Regency England. It is also one of several ways in which we have woven the real history of South Yorkshire into the fictional world of our LARP.

All Saints’ Church, Silkstone

The historic parish church of All Saints stands at the heart of Silkstone. Its origins reach back to the medieval period, and the building contains architectural features from several centuries of local history. For generations, parish churches such as All Saints were central to community life. They were places of worship, but also important settings for family occasions, social connections and the everyday relationships of village society. In the LARP In Perfect Confidence, All Saints is the parish church of the fictional Reverend Ellison and his family. The Ashcombes and the young ladies of their finishing school attend services there, providing a natural connection between Noblethorpe Hall, the Ellison family and the wider community.

The church also reminds us of the important position occupied by clergymen and their families in Regency society, where education, respectability and social duty often mattered as much as wealth.

Wentworth Woodhouse and the Fitzwilliam Family

One of the most influential families in the region was the Fitzwilliam family of Wentworth Woodhouse. Their magnificent country house was the centre of a vast estate, and their wealth and influence extended far beyond the immediate neighbourhood. In 1818, Wentworth Woodhouse was the seat of William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, a prominent aristocrat whose family held extensive lands and industrial interests in South Yorkshire. The Fitzwilliams played a significant role in the development of Elsecar, where coal mining and iron production contributed to the family’s prosperity and influence.

Unlike our fictional families, the Fitzwilliams are real historical figures whom we have incorporated into the background of our story. In the LARP In Perfect Confidence, the young ladies of the Ashcombes’ finishing school are preparing for a forthcoming ball at Wentworth Woodhouse. An invitation to such an occasion represents a remarkable social opportunity, and perhaps an equally remarkable source of anxiety. For ambitious parents and marriageable young people, an evening among the county’s most distinguished society might change everything.

If you are a devoted Jane Austen fan, you may already have noticed something rather familiar about the names Wentworth, Fitzwilliam and Woodhouse. All three appear in her novels: Captain Wentworth in Persuasion, Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, and Emma Woodhouse in Emma.

But is this merely a coincidence? Literary scholars have suggested that Austen may have deliberately drawn upon the names and history of the influential Wentworth-Fitzwilliam family when creating her characters, perhaps even finding inspiration for Mr Darcy in the family. Whether these connections were intentional remains a matter of debate, but they offer a delightful link between the real history of South Yorkshire and the fictional world of Jane Austen.

Where History Meets Imagination

The real history of South Yorkshire has provided us with much more than names and beautiful buildings. Its country houses, industrial villages, churches and powerful families have helped us create a fictional society in which inherited privilege meets new wealth, personal ambition challenges family expectations, and seemingly respectable households conceal their own private difficulties.

Our characters are fictional, and some historical properties have been given imagined occupants or altered circumstances for the purposes of the LARP. We hope that exploring the real places behind the story will add another dimension to your experience of In Perfect Confidence — and perhaps inspire you to discover more of South Yorkshire’s remarkable heritage.

For a few days in July, these places and histories will become the backdrop to a story that only our participants can tell.

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More pictures of Noblethorpe Hall