East Harlsey

The Ancient Parish of EAST HARLSEY

[Transcribed information mainly from the early 1820s]

"EAST HARLSEY, a parish in the wapentake of Birdforth ; 7 miles NE. of Northallerton. The church is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of W. Bennett, Esq. Pop. 420."

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"DEEPDALE, a farm house in the township and parish of East-Harlsey, 1 mile West of East Harlsey."

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"HAWKNEST, a farm house in the township and parish of East-Harlsey; ¾ mile W. of East Harlsey, 2 miles from Tontine-Inn, 6 from Northallerton."

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"MOUNT GRACE, in the parish of East Harlsey. and wapentake of Birdforth; 1¾ miles ESE. of East Harlsey, 7 miles NE. of Northallerton. Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey, Earl of Kent, and Lord Wake, founded a Carthusian Priory here, about the year 1396: but having conspired against Henry IV. he was taken in battle, and beheaded; this put a stop to the work till Henry VI. confirmed his grants in 1449, after which it flourished till the general dissolution, when its revenues were valued at £382. 6s. 11d, per annum. The site was granted, in 1540. to James Strangewaies. The secluded situation and romantic gloom of this monastery seem to have been particularly adapted to the austerities of the rigid order of the Carthusians placed here, and of which there were only nine houses in England. A Gothic archway forms the entrance into the quadrangle, the outer walls of which inclose about three acres of ground, and are still standing, fantastically covered with ivy; the inner court is surrounded by double walls, and contained the cells of those solitary monks, the floors of which, though now walled up, may be distinctly traced, and are fourteen in number. A part of the building has been converted into a farm house, of a castellated form with spacious apartments. The church, which is now in ruins, was in the form of a cross; the tower, which is yet perfect, rising from the centre, supported by four Gothic arches. On the summit of the hill that shelters the priory on the east, are the ruins of an ancient building, called the Lady's chapel founded in the year 1515., to which the ascent is steep and difficult."

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"STADDLE BRIDGE HOUSE, a farm house in the township and parish of East-Harlsey; 1½ miles ESE. of East Harlsey, 7 miles from Northallerton, 9 from Stokesley."