The Gamewatcher’s Cottage in Birkham Wood: Rediscovering a Lost History

Abstract

In 2023 an investigation was carried out to try and establish the origins of an enigmatic stone ruin in Birkham Wood, near Knaresborough, which had, in the early twentieth century, been converted into a cottage for a Harewood estate gamekeeper and his family. Although the structure is not formally recognised as being of historic interest, its extant west end corner buttresses, each adorned with an inscribed Latin cross, suggested otherwise. Locally, the ruin has been regarded as having medieval monastic associations. However, research and excavation now suggest that the building probably represents an example of John Carr’s Gothic revival work, as part of his work on the nearby Plompton Hall estate in c.1760. As well as providing a new perspective on the likely origin of the building, the project has provided some insights into a rarely documented subsistence lifestyle in the first half of the twentieth century.