Eagle Hall  | OS Grid Ref: 415001,465394  | Site classified as: Garden  | HPG Ref: 60063

Map Evidence

OS First Series
House , outbuildings , walled garden and orchard. A belt of trees to the N, a drive from the main Pateley Bridge-Greenhow road. SW and W of Eagle Hall large areas of deciduous woodland. Annotation for 'Eagle Level' mine shaft.
OS Second Series
House, outbuildings, expanded walled garden and reduced orchard. Driveto house moved further S with Lodge off the main PateleyBridge-Greenhow road. New woodland area to W of the house, S and SW in woodland 2 fishponds, footbridges, drives and walks. Annotation for Hydraulic ram and Eagle Level.
OS Third series SE 16 NW
As above

Site Overview

Eagle Hall occupies an elevated site off the road to Greenhow and in the 17th and 18th centuries the house and estate belonged to the Taylor and White families.
About 1864 Miss Elizabeth Rawson of Nidd Hall bought the estate (which comprised some 3,700 acres), for her great-nephew the Hon. H E Butler, the heir of Viscount Mountgarret.
The house was rebuilt in late 1879 and the main entrance moved to overlook the woodland.
In the next ten years Henry Butler and Mary Eleanor his wife laid out the woodland to give views over an open area. Guiscliffe and Yorke's Folly would have been clearly visible.
Gardens were laid out in front of the hall and there was a kitchen garden, tennis court and orchard.
A scenic drive from the Lodge to the main road was completed in 1889 passing ornamental trees, two lakes and interesting cascades. The drive presented an evolving series of views on the way up to the hall.
The lakes were made by damming the water which issued from the Eagle Level, an abandoned mine tunnel driven to connect with lead veins at Greenhow.
This water was warmed by its underground passage and the lakes and cascades were reputed never to have frozen. An hydraulic ram was installed to pump water up to the hall.

in 1906, H. Speight described it in these terms…
Eagle Hall occupies an elevated site open to the south, commanding a beautiful view of Guisecliff and the more distant Brimham Rocks… The extensive woodlands and laid-out grounds about the Hall are very charming. Upon one sunny bank there are growing luxuriantly above twenty varieties of heath, and almost throughout the year some of these are in bloom. A remarkable feature of these grounds are the two lakes, which have been never known to freeze: even after 32 degrees of frost not a trace of ice has been detected on any part of the most exposed surface. The lakes are fed by a volume of water which issues from an abandoned lead mine, the entrance to which, called the 'Eagle Level', is situated in a retired part of the woods. The stone archway to the mine is inscribed July 13th 1825. Being the date when it was first opened. The water issues from a considerable depth, and flowing onward from the mine through the wooded glades probably retains a degree of warmth sufficient to resist even the hardest winter-frosts.

Source: Speight, H. (1906) Upper Nidderdale and the Forest of Knaresborough. London: Elliot Stock

Additional Information

Eagle Hall was sold by the Mountgarret family in the 1960s and was later converted into apartments.
Part of the woodland comprising 14.95ha was sold in 1994 for shooting.
In 2015 planning permission was sought and subsequently granted for a controversial 'eco-friendly' house in woodlands to the east of Eagle Hall.

References: 

Hepworth, V. (1995) 'The Conservation of Small Designed Landscapes'. Unpublished M.A. Dissertation, Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York. 	

Hepworth, V. (2000) 'Eagle Hall and its woods'. Yorkshire Gardens Trust visit report.

Harrogate Planning Application No: 15/03345/FUL and

Parks and Gardens UK

The site details are held on the Parks and Gardens UK database; Record Id: 6851
Record created 13/04/2009

1854 OS 6 inch map

1910 OS 6 inch map

Eagle Hall, 1895. This is an early post card from the Francis Frith collection.
Unfortunately for copyright reasons we are unable to display this image.
This link however will take you directly to the image on the official Frith collection website.

Eagle Hall today (2009)

Eagle Hall grounds around 1900.
The view shows the lower lake with the overflow forming a landscaped cascade taken looking up the outfall.

The exit from the lake over the cascade (2009).
This view is from the lake down the outfall.

The outlet from the Eagle Level lead mine used as a feed to the lake (2009).
The top of the archway that formed the exit for the water can just be seen below the inscribed header stone dated July 13 1825.