Chapel Haddlesey Hall Garths

Description

Medieval double moated site, now ploughed out. Excavation uncovered evidence of Roman and Anglo-Saxon occupation and a sequence of buildings on the site, commencing in C12. The earliest buildings were two timber structures, including a hall, dating from C12/early C13. The moats were constructed in C13 and the timber buildings were replaced by a stone-built manor house in the middle of the century. Alterations, including the construction of a kitchen, took place in the mid C14. The final phase dates to C15/early C16 when the manor house was rebuilt and remodelled and a gatehouse and bridge were added. (PastScape)

The inner island (360 ft. by 210 ft.) was roughly rectangular with the principal buildings concentrated in its W. half. No trace of building was found in the area between the moats. The site was deserted by the middle of the 16th century. In its final form the house consisted of buildings extending around, and beyond, three sides of a small courtyard. To the W. were bakehouses and other service buildings; to the N. a residential wing. On the E. a light wall joined the N. wing to the kitchens of the main block, which itself extended S. of the hall, with central hearth and screens, lying beyond the courtyard area. Brick, timber and limestone were used in wall construction; the roof was tiled. An isolated brick and timber house (85 ft. by 20 ft.) followed the moat edge in the extreme E. corner of the island. From the main bridge with its small adjoining gatehouse a cobbled road led from the SE. moat to an entrance at the N. end of the hall. An earlier, larger hall lay beneath the latest one and earlier prototypes beneath the courtyard buildings. In this middle phase, construction was of timber on low limestone walls roofed with thin limestone slabs. The kitchen, with its five superimposed hearths, was common to both periods. The earliest house, entirely of timber and without roofing-tiles, lay on the same axis as, but N. of, the later hall. Of this, two buildings were excavated and portions of others observed, all earlier than the inner moat. Pottery finds suggest they were destroyed early in the 13th century. (Med. Arch, 1965)

Comments

Gwenda Blackwell informs Gatehouse "It was excavated and levelled in 1968 but crop marks on Google still show the basic structure (pretty much like Castle Bolton). Artifacts included peacock bones (!) and were sent to Leeds Museum. The excavators called it Chapel Garth. There was evidence of three periods of occupation and a causeway across the River Aire." and also suggest an association with the nearby Templar Preceptory.