May 2021 Advertiser Article

The above image is a brief animation showing the Haigh Park area today, courtesy Google Maps, OS Maps and the Fowler drawing from 1823. The images loop through the same location over two hundred year period.

One of the benefits of writing an article for a magazine is that occasionally someone responds to the essay with a new piece of information, which adds more to the understanding of the subject.… Read the full article

June 2021 Advertiser Article

Deer Shelter or Round Building

The usual fare here is history, but this month we start with some news, and not good at that, but we follow with some history which sheds light on the news aspect, and indicates why it is a tragedy. The circular structure, the round building or deer shelter as its listing states, off to the left as you proceed up the main driveway at Parlington has collapsed, leaving only one arch left standing.… Read the full article

April 2021 Advertiser Article

old gas meter

History is a moving target, not something which has a finite answer. Essentially what happens in a moment rapidly loses its component parts and re-assembly of the parts whether virtual or real is always open to interpretation. The passage of time makes the task more difficult. The distance from which we sit today relative to the events which took place at Parlington prior to its destruction over the early decades of the twentieth century, enable many theories to be expounded.… Read the full article

March 2021 Advertiser Article

parlington around 1860, stereo photo & brewster viewer

Early photography was very different, in fact photography up until the nineteen nineties was constrained by the storage medium. But with the advent of digital cameras and electronic storage the world changed. Back in the Victorian era a camera was a huge box with a brass mount for a large glass lens, all supported on a sturdy wooden tripod.… Read the full article

February 2021 Advertiser Article

Parlington Hall unknown date.

Imagine if you were exploring Parlington Woods in the early 1950’s on a cold and dark winter’s day and out of the gloom you were confronted with the desolate scene of the abandoned old hall, you might be forgiven for imagining that there was more to the place than simply a derelict old building.… Read the full article

January 2021 Advertiser Article

Those reading the Parlington articles from previous editions will recall how Richard Oliver inherited the Gascoigne estates after the death of the last “real“ Gascoigne, Sir Thomas in 1810.

Horse racing continued as a primary activity at Parlington under Richard Oliver-Gascoigne (he took the surname on his accession to the estates) and new racing successes were had.… Read the full article

December 2020 Advertiser Article

Approaching Christmas 2020, with many uncertainties abounding, due to the ongoing national crisis. It is interesting from a curiosity perspective to look at some information from the housekeeper accounts at Parlington to give an insight into the family activities at Christmas in a Victorian household. Writing this article at the beginning of November shortly after the announcement by Government of a second “lockdown”, it is unclear what kind of Christmas we can expect this year.… Read the full article

November 2020 Advertiser Article

The year 2020 with all its drama and unprecedented draconian measures to weather a viral infection caused me to reflect on earlier times. One of the saddest aspects of the Gascoigne family of Parlington from the eighteenth century is how, despite their wealth, life dealt them a poor hand of cards.… Read the full article

October 2020 Advertiser Article

Recently acquired family papers delivered to Lotherton Hall, bequeathed by a Gascoigne relative, are providing new insights into, and filling many gaps in the family story. One very glaring absence is the complete lack of any photographs of Colonel Frederick Trench-Gascoigne, or his wife Isabella. But at least Isabella and her sister Elizabeth feature on a drawing and later engraving, titled ‘Peris of the North’, clearly from their early adulthood.… Read the full article

September 2020 Advertiser Article

Aberford Almshouses 1850’s :: Photo by the architect George Fowler Jones

An article in the Leeds Intelligencer, dated May 10th 1845, titled: “The Gascoigne Alms-Houses at Aberford” set out information about the newly completed almshouses under the superintendence the architect Mr Jones. It goes on to say how the building erected at the expense of the Misses Gascoigne, daughters of the late Richard Oliver Gascoigne, Esq.,… Read the full article