Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HAREWOOD

HAREWOOD, a village, a township, a parish, and a sub-district, in Otley district, W. R. Yorkshire. The village stands near the river Wharfe, 4 miles E of Arthington r. station, and 8 N of Leeds; consists of two streets, the one running north and south, the other east and west; was once a market-town; has a post-office‡ under Leeds, a good inn, and fairs on the last Monday of April and the 2d Monday of Oct.; and gives the title of Earl to the family of Lascelles. Its houses are neat, and have almost all little gardens attached to them; its streets are planted with trees, forming avenues, and one of them leading to the principal gateway of Harewood Park; and its general appearance is eminently pleasing. The township comprises 3,632 acres. Real property, £5,080. Pop., 834. Houses, 166.—The parish contains also the townships of Wike, Wigton, Weeton, Dunkeswick, Weardley, East Keswick, and Alwoodley. Acres, 12,193. Real property, £15,952; of which £316 are in quarries. Pop., 2,396. Houses, 505. The manor belonged to Robert de Romeli, Ranulph de Meschines, the Aldburghs, the Gascoignes, the Wentworths, and Cutler the miser; and belongs now to the Earl of Harewood. Harewood Castle occupies a fine site, in the vicinity of the village, overlooking the valley of the Wharfe; dates originally from about the time of the Conquest; was rebuilt by Sir William de Aldburgh, in the time of Edward III.; remained entire till the civil wars of Charles I.; had a quadrangular outline, slightly modified by the nature of the site; was more properly a very strong castellated mansion, than a structure designed for military defence; and is now represented by extensive ivy-clad walls, strong in masonry, and rising in some parts to nearly their original height. Harewood House, the seat of the Earl of Harewood, was built in 1760, after designs by Adams, at a cost of £100,000; is in the Corinthian style, 248 feet long, with centre and two wings; has splendid apartments, with ceilings modelled chiefly by Rose, and painted by Zucchi and Rebecchi; contains family portraits, classical statues, and busts of philosophers and poets; and stands in a park of 1,800 acres, laid out at a cost of £16,000, and including picturesque scenery. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £447. * Patron, alternately the Earl of Harewood and the Rev. C. Wheler. The church stands in Harewood Park; is very old, and superseded a previous one; comprises nave, chancel, and aisles; has an ivy-clad tower; contains an altar-tomb of Sir William Gascoigne, a native, who committed Prince Hal; and contains also several other tombs and handsome mural monuments. The vicarage of Weeton is a separate benefice. There are a chapel of ease in East Keswick; wesleyan chapels in Harewood township, East Keswick, and Weeton; a Primitive Methodist chapel in East Keswick; a literary and scientific institution in Harewood; national schools in Harewood and Weeton; a church-school in East Keswick; and charities £60.—The sub-district contains Addle parish and five townships of Harewood. Acres, 14,498. Pop., 2,762. Houses, 550.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a township, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Harewood Tn/AP/CP       Harewood SubD       Otley RegD       West Riding Riding       Yorkshire AncC
Place: Harewood

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