Brodsworth Hall was built between 1861 and 1863 for Charles Sabine Thellusson. It survives as a mid-Victorian vision of a comfortable country house, with many of its original furnishings and the formal gardens laid out around it. However, Brodsworth had fallen into disrepair by 1990 when it was given to English Heritage. Since then its fragile interiors have been gently conserved, while the gardens have been returned to their earlier formality.
There is a much longer history to Brodsworth than the Victorian house and gardens might suggest. The house and village lie on a broad limestone ridge, a fertile area in which there have been settlements since the Iron Age. Running along the ridge is a major route north used by the Romans, whose garrison nearby developed to become Doncaster