More information : SE321 84564. Harewood Castle. [LB] (Remains of). Bowling Green. [LB].
Castle Well. [LB] (1)
Harewood Castle was rebuilt by Sir William Aldburgh and licensed in 1367 (2). Evidence for an earlier building is suggested by family histories recorded by Camden, but there are no extant remains earlier than the 14th century (3). It is possible that the family seat was moved to Harewood from Rougemont [SE 24 NE/1] as a consequence of the Black Death. The bowling green to the east is probably an Elizabethan addition. The building became ruinous between 1637 and 1656 (4). (2-4)
The remains of Harewood Castle are as shown by round photographs. (5)
SE 322 456. Harewood Castle. Scheduled. (6)
Harewood Castle. Detailed survey in progress. Consultants - West Yorkshire Archaeological Unit. (7)
Harewood Castle is as described and planned. Bowling Green (SE 32224561) as planned but now covered by deciduous plantation. Castle Well (SE 32026 45477), the area marked by the circle symbol is full of vegetation and debris and no actual stonework was evident but the well is most probably still extant beneath the debris. (8)
SE 3218 4564. Harewood Castle. The ruins of this fortified house overlook the Wharfe Valley from the slopes below Harewood Village; they stand within the park wall of the later Harewood House.
The manor of Harewood came into the possession of the family of L'Isle, whose principal holdings were in Bedfordshire, in 1293, and in 1364 it was alienated by Robert de L'Isle to Sir William de Aldeborough. In 1366 de Aldeborough obtained a licence to crenellate his house at Harewood; prior to this the head of manor had probably been at Rougemont, the site of which is still discernible on the north bank of the river between Weeton and Dunkeswick.
The house which de Aldeborough built was a small, rectangular tower-house, a typical pele, with a kitchen wing attached to the west. The shell is still reasonably intact.
The house proper has four angle-towers and contained the great hall on the ground floor and the solar above; the hall has the remains of a great fireplace in the east hall and a richly decorated recess, probably used as a sideboard, in the south wall. There is newel stair in the south-east angle tower. The entrance is through the ground floor of the north-west tower and led originally into the screens dividing the hall from the kitchens; it was provided with a
portcullis. The second floor of this tower, above the portcullis chamber, has a three-light, traceried window and is richly decorated with the arms of Aldeborough, Baliol, Constable, Vipont and Thweng; it was probably the oratory.
The kitchen wing to the west of the tower-house had a barrel-vaulted basement, a kitchen above at the level of the hall and two upper floors which would be used as dormitories for the servants.
The whole house is an excellent example of the smaller type of country house of the period; built essentially for comfort and convenience it was yet capable of resisting attack by casual
marauders. Its neat, compact plan was its principal defensive attribute. (9)
Scheduled. (10)
Listed Grade I. (12)
Listed by Cathcart King. (13)
Short note following a survey by EDAS in 2007. (14) |