Parlington? A place to some of historic significance, to others a scenic venue to enjoy a country walk. But to many a place unheard of… sorry did you say Darlington? Geographically speaking the Parlington Estate is situated between Aberford to the east, Barwick in Elmet to the west and Micklefield and Garforth to the south. It is a quiet and secluded place, at its centre and in the summer months when ample foliage abounds it is outside the range of the traffic noise which emanates from the A1-M1 link which bisects the local area. The estate was for many centuries the home of a prominent Yorkshire family the Gascoignes. The family had earlier lived in Barnbow, near Scholes before making Parlington the family seat in the seventeenth century. The estate had been bought by a John Gascoigne in the time of Henry VIII and various generations of the family resided locally at both Barnbow and Parlington, until eventually the Barnbow house was abandoned and thereafter Parlington took precedence. The location used to feature a small settlement, which carried the name of Parlington and was mentioned in the Doomsday Book, but this was cleared away it is thought by the mid eighteenth century.
Triumphal Arch
If you know Parlington then you must surely be aware of its most famous feature, the Triumphal Arch. A most unlikely occurrence in the mellow English landscape at the head of a long beech lined driveway is the stone structure featuring a high centre arch and two flanking smaller arches. More peculiarly is the inscription which is to be found on each face in a wide frieze across the full width of the structure, “LIBERTY IN N. AMERICA TRIUMPHANT MDCCLXXXIII” (1783 Treaty of Paris), thought to be the only commemoration of a foreign victory over the host nation in the country. However if you know British history the statement is not as surprising as it might seem because the war following the colonial declaration of Independence in 1776 was not as popular across the country as it was amongst the ruling elite of the time. Many including Sir Thomas Gascoigne at Parlington believed the war to be against our own kith and kin in the colonial states of North America. Sir Thomas was perhaps the most controversial for literally setting in stone his disquiet at the decisions made by Prime Minister Lord North and King George III. To such an extent that a strong rumour persists that the future King George IV in the days of his regency was so dismayed to discover the arch with its message on a visit to Parlington, that he would not permit his carriage and entourage to pass through and elected to visit Hazlewood castle instead.
To those unaware of the arch it is accessible by walking the length of the beech lined driveway from Cattle Lane in Aberford up Parlington Drive, directly opposite Pike Lodge, a former estate property which sits above the Cock Beck on Cattle Lane. The route is a permissive right and the rules of using the roadway and grounds should be adhered to, these can be found on a notice as you enter the estate. The distance from the entrance is around half a mile, beyond the arch the road is private, but visitors can re-trace their steps and go off to the left towards Barwick on a right of way, or alternatively turn right and down the slope to the old coal road, Parlington Lane. Each of these routes will be addressed in a future article.
After 1905
The recent history of Parlington is that it was an abandoned estate some years after the death of Colonel Frederick Charles Trench-Gascoigne in 1905. His only son had made Lotherton Hall his home after inheriting it in 1893 from his late aunt Elizabeth, Lady Ashtown. Parlington being very ancient in parts and nestling in a hollow in the landscape seemed probably a burden to the newly wedded son, so he and his wife Gwendolen enlarged and improved the house and gardens of the more modest accommodation at Lotherton. Latterly Parlington with only its estate properties in use and the land in agricultural production, the main residence the old hall was incrementally dismantled. Eventually by the mid century only parts of the western end of the hall remained, and this section was divided into two farm workers cottages. An inauspicious end to a great mansion which had over the centuries been a centre of horse racing, and was reputed for its delightful landscaped gardens, often described in Victorian terms as “sylvan glades”. Still lasting in the gardens to this day is a magnificent Cedar of Lebanon, one of only a few specimen trees which adorned the estate to have made it into the new century.
The Gascoigne history is long and even to this day many pubs and street names in the area carry a reference to their long tenure as local lords. However the actual Gascoigne bloodline died out in 1810 after the death of Sir Thomas 8th Bart., he of the Triumphal Arch fame. His only son had pre-deceased him in a tragic riding accident whilst hunting near Retford in Nottinghamshire in the autumn of 1809. After changing his will a much distressed Sir Thomas granted his stepson and wife a lifetime interest in the estate, with the proviso that their children would continue thereafter. Part of the grant required that the name of Gascoigne be adopted, thereafter Richard Oliver became Oliver-Gascoigne. The new Oliver-Gascoignes had four children two sons and two daughters, but in a eerie repeat of the tragedy affecting Sir Thomas, both Richard’s sons, Thomas and Richard pre-deceased him in 1842, he died at the age of eighty in April 1843. The two surviving daughters Isabella and Elizabeth took the opportunity to commemorate their late brothers and father by commissioning the construction of the Aberford Almshouses on the Great North Road or old A1.
The Almshouses, now a company business headquarters, has since its beginning been a prominent architectural feature in the landscape. Even with the changed road systems the structure is still visible from traffic passing south on the A1- M1 bypass to the east of the old road. At night with its elevation lit up it can be seen for miles around, many believing it to be a church, given its neo-Gothic styling. The creation of a York based architect George Fowler Jones, who undertook many local projects with Gascoigne financial support, such as St Mary’s Church Garforth and St Ricarius, Aberford. He may also have contributed to some of the minor later alterations at Parlington Hall. Besides the Triumphal Arch and Almshouses there are many structures in the local area which are directly attributable to the Gascoigne family. Following the marriage in 1850 of the elder of the two sisters, Isabella to Frederick Trench the Gascoigne name morphed into Trench-Gascoigne and remained so until its final conclusion after the deaths of Sir Alvary Trench-Gascoigne in 1970 and lastly his second wife Lorna in 1979. Again the children, Douglas and Yvonne, by Sir Alvary’s first wife Silvia, pre-deceasing their parents.
Sale 1964
In 1964 the Parlington Estate was offered for sale in a public auction, at the time its ownership was with Yvonne Trench-Gascoigne, probably gifted by Sir Alvary to his daughter to avoid death duties. However Yvonne lived only three years beyond the death of her father, dying in 1973. The estate and a good portion of Aberford were included in the sale and whilst many properties were taken by sitting tenants, the main estate lots were all taken by one purchaser who through a series of structural changes and acquisitions remains in ownership to this day. The estate which in its current form is an area of something less than 3,000 acres is mostly agricultural and forestry landscape. The opportunity to enter the estate for general recreational purposes such as walking, all terrain cycling, horse riding etc is restricted to existing public rights of way, a bridleway and as described earlier on the main open landscape to the Triumphal Arch by permissive right from the owners.
The estate, albeit a popular retreat for locals from the immediate villages, lies unheard of by many who live just a short distance away. However this status has changed in the last eighteen months with the proposal to site a new township right in the centre of the estate. The desire for additional housing has driven the local council to consider historic greenbelt land as dispensable in its quest to accommodate future population growth. The owners of course see an opportunity to turn a relatively low value agricultural asset into “megs bucks”, by it being designated for residential building and associated use. Naturally many people from far and wide who know of its historic status and delightful country walks are appalled at the prospect of it being lost for ever by increasing urbanisation. The growth of housing for the area (Outer North East as it is characterised by the council) could surely be found in less sensitive and more sustainable locations. Although late to the game, Historic England have recognised the importance of the landscape and in the final quarter of last year the estate became a registered park and garden of grade II status. This will help prevent the loss of the greenbelt, but the owners agents have challenged the listing decision.
Heritage Assets
Meanwhile a collection of the old buildings and structures are separately being assessed for listed status, they are, in no particular order, the Model Home Farm, The Light Arch & Dark Arch, The Georgian Ice House, Barwick and Ass Bridge Lodges and finally Wakefield Lodge. These will join other structures and housing on the estate with a historic importance. Notably the Triumphal Arch being the most significant, others being the Hook Moor Lodges, the former Gascoigne Almshouses, The Gardens House, Parlington Lane Lodge, Park House and Pike Lodge. The shear number of historic buildings and structures in such a small area gives credibility to the claim of the importance of the Gascoigne legacy and therefore the Parlington Estate as a whole. Whilst it is true that the later Gascoigne home of Lotherton Hall was gifted to the citizens of Leeds, and therefore is a permanent resource in the recreational sector, it carries little of the history, except for the pre-existing ancient twelfth century chapel, adjacent to the hall.
Parlington has many other features, some lost others partly destroyed which make it a valuable local asset. The estate at its south west corner is penetrated by the Cock Beck here in earlier times was a sizeable man made lake with an island in the centre and a folly at the northern tip. The folly was constructed from the chancel wall of the medieval St Mary’s church in Garforth, demolished in the 1840’s and replaced by the Fowler Jones building which exists today. The site was used for public garden fairs in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Additionally a waterfall, dam and water control system were all part of a complex arrangement to manage the flow of the river, and for further recreation was a boathouse for rowing boats for people to enjoy the lake. The Cock Beck continues on the west side of the estate, which flows at the foot of Barwick Banks and winds its way through the landscape to Ass Bridge on the road between Barwick and Aberford. Here ground rises steeply from Ass bridge, behind the former lodge and the estate land is on a plateau encompassing most of the heritage assets, Home Farm, Gardens House, the Triumphal Arch, the remaining parts of the old Hall, the Dark Arch and two fish ponds. Heading south and east before it rises again up through the former Deer Park beyond Parlington Lane and the Gamekeeper’s Cottage, at the top of the hill some hundred feet or so is Park House on the Aberford to Garforth road.
Dark Arch
The Dark Arch on Parlington Lane is another popular attraction to visitors, if you were walking from Aberford towards Garforth it comes to view in an instance as you round a corner. A quite unexpected event. Then the question arises should you go into the dark abyss or pass round to the south along the sunk fence or “Ha Ha”, so built to prevent the deer from entering the hall gardens. A walk through the arch is to enter an old world, not fettered by lighting and paved walkways, so boots are advisable! The tunnel itself around 85 yards long on a continuous bend lies under the gardens of the hall. It was constructed to allow coal traffic from the Gascoigne mines in Garforth to pass through un-noticed by the hall residents! Later from the mid nineteenth century the sunk fence was used to carry a railway line for horse drawn coal traffic, with the aid of gravity on the way down from the higher elevation of Garforth to the coal staiths in Aberford at the end of Parlington Lane. Great change came in 1870 with a steam engine giving increased production to the transport of coal, in fact over the year two engines were introduced, MW Mulciber and secondly MW Ignifer. Both standard gauge engines manufactured in Hunslet, Leeds by Manning Wardle.
The trains would bring coal from the Garforth pits, Elizabeth, Isabella and Sisters being the names of the respective mines serving the district, later to be joined by the Trench pit in Ninelands Lane, Garforth. The family wealth derived largely form their mining and agricultural interests and by the time the two sisters inherited the estates following the death of their father in 1843 they became very rich ladies indeed. By conservative estimates their annual income exceeded $5M at today’s rates, (£60,000 per annum at the time)!
Well, that about winds up, pun intended given the earlier reference to coal pits, the introduction to the Parlington estate. There is a lot more of interest to tell and for those curious to know more there is a comprehensive website, (http://www.parlington.co.uk/) where further information on the history of the estate and family can be found. Future articles will deal with the individual aspects of the estate including the best walking routes and ongoing news of the possible new town and its impact. Further information about the fight to stop the new town by the local action group SPAG (Save Parlington Action Group) can be found at http://save-parlington.org/ and also on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/parlingtonhistory/