Memories of Harewood

Childhood memories

I was born in Harewood in 1971 and lived 14 amazingly happy childhood years there!!
My father was born there in 1947 and he has amazing tales of his childhood too!!
My memories were of taking a picnic and heading out on adventures to "the rockies" with tunnels and caves; now I understand they were built by the landscape artist Capability Brown.  We would venture deep into the woods to "the roman pool" and catch tadpoles and newts, a few accidents with us falling in!!  Then before dusk it would be a trip to the castle to climb up the steep, spiral staircase to the top of the world!!!  I think it was falcons that used to nest up there, but it was a breathtaking view!!
These memories will never leave me!!!!

The Norfolk Family

I am John Howard Norfolk and although I have never lived in Yorkshire I know that my Norfolk family were farmers, millers and tanners in Harewood and nearby Wharfedale villages for many hundreds of years until the late 1800's. I have found records of my Norfolk family living in the parish going back to the early 1600's.

I have visited the church in Harewood and found several family graves - how alarming it is to see a tombstone with your own name, John Norfolk, on it !  

Some of the family lived in Harewood Mill and others in the nearby hamlet of Dunkeswick. Looking at the area in modern times at so much farmland and parkland it is hard to believe that in centuries past there were so many inhabitants and worshippers at the church.

I believe that the last of my family to be raised in the parish was my great-grandfather James Henry Norfolk who moved to Leeds and then London. If any relatives of the Harewood Norfolks read this I would be very pleased to hear from them at jhnorfolk at googlemail.com  and I would also be thrilled to see any old photos of Harewood in the "Francis Frith" style