| Description | Harewood Park forms the designed landscape that surrounds Harewood House (PRN 6896), established between c.1755 1851. The landscape comprises of several areas of interest. The Northern Pleasure grounds lie to the north of the house on the ridge above the Wharfe valley and includes the Grove, a woodland plantation containing a series of ornamental structures (rotunda and rock arch). This area is linked to Harewood Castle (PRN 1429) via a series of paths and rideways that lead from the house and were established following the rerouting of the Tadcaster Otley turnpike in 1799 1802. To the south, lies the parkland containing the ornamental pond, Piper Wood, and various woodland plantations. More recently, the Wallside Plantation parallel to the A61 was used as a source for timber by the Harewood Estate and has since (mid twentieth century) been planted with a young variety of species, mostly beech. The house and park has been historically accessed via two approaches. The first, which is no longer in use, consisted of a series of structured views leading from Lofthouse Gates across the parkland to Piper Wood before heading northwards, up the 'coal road' towards the house. The modern approach, meanwhile, is taken through the Triumphal Arch in Harewood Village, west to Harewood House.
The initial phase of development was undertaken following Edwin Lascelles' (1713 95) inheritance of the estate from his father in 1753. Shortly afterwards, in 1755, plans were made for the new stables (PRN 9022) and landscaping the area surrounding Gawthorpe Hall (PRN 688) (WYAS WYL 250/3/240). During the 1760s the Northern Pleasure grounds were established by Richard Woods (1715 93) and Thomas White (1736 1811). Although Lancelot 'Capability' Brown (1716 83) was consulted on the design of Harewood House and its landscape in 1758, his connection with Harewood did not begin in earnest until the 1770s when he was responsible for establishing the approach from Lofthouse, a series of cascades in Piper Wood and augmenting the lake (Firth 1980). From 1780, however, the approach from Harewood village became the principal entrance as Robert Adam's lodge was completed to the east of All Saints' Church (PRN 699), with the entrypoint from the village indicated by the lodge houses with pediments on the Harrogate Road (pers. comm. Hall). The parkland in the south west included the Bronze Age Greystone (PRN 1208) , an ice house (PRN 1456) possibly built as a precursor to the later example constructed at the stables from c.1760 (PRN 8997) (English Heritage, 1995) and the Temple of Venus located in the Sugar Hills, built by John Carr of York. It was also during this period (1771 3) that Gawthorpe Hall was demolished as the Lascelles moved into Harewood House (WYAS HAR/SC/5 f263).
The second phase began as the estate was inherited by Edward Lascelles (1740 1820) in 1796. The most significant changes involved the rerouting of the Otley Tadcaster turnpike (1799 1802) from Church Lane to the present line of the A61. This enclosed an area of approximately 180 acres including Harewood Castle, which was later incorporated into the designed landscape via the rock arch and a series of rides established between 1813 5. To the south, parkland was established in response to the planned improvements by Humphry Repton (1752 1818) in 1800 (WYAS WYL 250/4; WYAS WYL 250/3/44), whereby 9 sets of agricultural holdings were grassed over. Veteran trees now visible in the parkland are likely to denote former field boundaries. In parallel, Repton also planned a new approach from Harewood House through the triumphal arch. It was later built by John Carr of York replacing Adam's earlier lodge, but retained the original flanking pavilions positioning them either side of the archway (pers.comm. Hall). |