I’ve never been to Harewood House in Yorkshire despite it being only an hour or so away by car, so this month I booked us couple of nights’ stay in the charming Harewood Arms. I have to confess to an ulterior motive though, my plan was to also visit the church of All Saint’s Harewood where some of my ancestors were hatched, matched and despatched and then on our way home to Hull, to visit the village of Thorner for the same reason. I did admit this to Patrick prior to booking the trip so he knew what he was in for.
The pub/hotel was lovely and the managers had only just taken over the day previous. Despite that, our welcome was warm and friendly, the room was cosy and the food in the restaurant was very nice indeed. I’d highly recommend it as a place to stay if you are visiting the area.
I really enjoyed the visit to Harewood House but lets face it, one stately home looks much like another doesn’t it. So, I’m not going to lie, I was more excited to be in the very church where 250 years+ ago ancestors were baptised and married. The church is now deconsecrated but is maintained for visitors by the Churches Conservation Trust. It is small but beautiful and noted for the six alabaster tombs of some prominent families of the area. If you look at the photos closely, you’ll see that the carvings each have their feet resting on different things specific to them. One lady is resting her feet on her favourite dog whilst her husband rests his on a lion from his family coat of arms. There are plenty of information boards inside and it was a really interesting visit. The only access to the church is via the Harewood Estate so you have to pay to visit the house and/or grounds to see inside the church.
On our way home from Harewood, we did stop off at the village of Thorner just a few miles away, as more ancestors were born and married there. I wanted to see the High Street and the church and of course have a mooch around the graveyard, where I spotted several stones with familiar names on them. I’m sure I will talk about this visit more on my Genealogy blog so if you are interested you can head over there and sign up for email updates of new posts.
A slideshow of the photos from our stay is below. Click on the image for a larger view with captions.
