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Hazlewood Castle Hotel - HISTORY PAGE

Brief History; In 1290 permission was given to fortify the manor making Hazlewood a castle.  In 1461 a battle of the War of the Roses took place in the fields and valley before the castle - as looking out from castle in the picture left.  An enormous battle that ended with 28,000 dead.  Families owning Hazelwood Castle dating back to the Domesday Book (commissioned by William the Conqueror 1086) until 1996 have all remained Catholic.  Hazelwood Castle has been a former monastery and with Catholicism an outlawed practice with a death sentence during the English Reformation started by King Henry VIII, saw the adding of priest holes and a priest tunnel for escape.  Today, Hazlewood castle opened as an exclusive hotel after restoration in 1997; this hotel has 21 individual bedrooms and a chapel.  The grounds, courtyard, steps and interiors are ideal for wedding photography & video.

Hazlewood Castle History by Hazlewood Castle Hotel

The recorded history of Hazlewood Castle starts with the Domesday Book carried out for King William. The Domesday Book introduced for the first time taxation to the country. The entry is for Sir Mauger the Vavasour residing in the Hall of a Thane at Hazelwood.

In 1283 Sir William built on the site of the Hall of a Thane a manor house i.e. Great Hall and Pele Tower but as a result of the Barons' Wars he applied to the King to fortify his manor. The licence was granted in 1290, transforming the Hall of a Thane into a castle and his title went to a Baron as Barons only were allowed to live in a castle.

The 29th March 1461 saw the War of the Roses take place on Towton Moor, which is directly in front of the Castle to the south and south east (which is the valley of the River Cock which ran red with blood from this battle for many a day after the fight had finished. 70,000 people taking part with 28,000 killed).

The Tudor reign then followed (all the families from Mauger through to the Carmelites of 1996 were Catholic). When Henry outlawed the Catholic Church, priest holes were added to the Tudor Tower and an underground passage went to Crossroads Farm on the A1/A64 crossroads. These were imperative as the priest if caught would be hung, drawn and quartered and the person aiding or abetting him hung!

In 1908 the Vavasours leave Hazelwood after 900 years and go to the Awatere Valley near Marlborough in New Zealand, and begin vineyards.

Mr Simpson, a solicitor, bought the Castle and he and descendent families were here until 1953. During the Second World War from 1939 to June 1953 the Castle was requisitioned as a maternity hospital.

Mr Fawcett then bought the Castle and they still reside just down the lane from the Castle (Mr Fawcett married the great grand-daughter of the Vavasours, so a member of the family moved back on site for a few years.)

In 1958 the Castle was sold to a Mr Donald Hart, who expressed a desire to the Bishop of Leeds that the Castle would make a nice place to be used as a retreat.

To avoid gift taxes the Castle was sold to the Carmelite Friars who opened the Castle in 1971 as a retreat until 1996, when it was closed and put up for sale.

Hazlewood Castle Hotel opened on the 1st October 1997 having been sympathetically restored.

Wedding Photography Yorkshire Castles England.  YORKSHIRE CASTLE HISTORY.

Dating from William the Conqueror in 1066 the start of the castle-building period began and shortly after conquest that castle building began in Yorkshire.  Being both close to Scotland and far from the heart of England Yorkshire has remained a troubled area.  The Normans came under attack from locals and the Danes in 1069 who sailed up the Humber to attack York Castle and were forced to take refuge in a vast number of motte-and-bailey castles considered to be the more traditional style, such as Skipsea; other styles are shell-keep castles, such as Pickering, tower-keep castles, such as Scarborough, hall-keep castles, such as Middleham, tower-house castles, such as Ripley, and courtyard castles such as Bolton. 

For centuries during the medieval period, castles and fortified manor houses known as tower-houses like Hazlewood Castle were necessary for their own protection from the Scots and local civil wars between King Stephen and Empress Matilda and the later Wars of the Roses such as the Towton Moor at the rear of Hazlewood Castle.  The Civil War destroyed many of the area's finest castles such as Scarborough, others were slighted to prevent their further use as Royalist strongholds, such as Pontefract.  Hazlewood not to be confused with Hazelwood.

The featured wedding at Hazelwood Castle is Coleen Nolan and Ray Fensome.  Ray is a distinguished musician and runs an entertainment company.  Coleen Nolan is a household celeb originally being one the Nolan Sisters girl group whose success in the early 1980's produced the massive hit 'I'm in The Mood for Dancing'. 

Coleen and Ray's wedding was attended by many recognised and well known TV personalities to include actors and actresses from cinema film and TV - ITV's Emmerdale Farm, ITV's Coronation Street, BBC's Waterloo Road and ITV's Loose Women.

To see more about this celebrity wedding or for more information on wedding photography and video at Hazlewood Castle please click the link below.

Click here for details on Wedding photography and Wedding video at Hazlewood Castle Hotel

LINKS

Hazlewood Castle - Click here for details on the HISTORY of Hazlewood Castle Hotel

Official Hazlewood Castle Hotel site - Hazlewood Castle

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   Waterton Park Hotel - West Yorkshire

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