The hall opened as a hospital in July 1918 under the command of Colonel C. W. E. Duncombe to provide care for officers with shell shock.

[7] The Leeds Education Committee allowed patients to attend classes in the city free of charge.

This decision was unpopular in the press, as it took soldiers much further away from their families and left the North of England without a specialist treatment centre for psychological wounds inflicted by experiences in the First World War.

Oulton Hall then changed hands, but due to the new owner's lack of resources it fell into disrepair, and in 1974 it was derelict.

Restoration and expansion cost £20 million to turn the hall into a hotel set in an estate of 300 acres (1.2 km2), with gardens, a 27-hole golf course and a spa.