Kirkby Malzeard & Laverton

Mowbray House

Prior to the current house, there was a large house on the corner of Main Street and Church Street, where the Alms Houses are, dating back pre. 1778, which is the date on a the map showing the buildings. It shows that the property was in the name of Lady Arendale, although it’s likely to be spelt ‘Arundel’. The Arundels were part of the Dukes of Norfolk and and Barons Mowbray ancestry.

The map dated 1796 shows ‘Map of the Estate situate in the Township and Parish of Kirkby Malzeard in the County of York…’ so the building we see today, although altered several times since, starts life between 1778 and 1796.
Names of previous owners include Mrs Elizabeth Sophia Lawrence and Mrs Elizabeth Allanson. There is also mention of a Mr Walker owning the house, but it’s not clear if this was the original house or the one that was first built around 1780’s.


Owners of the building on the current site include Thomas Scott Dickins J. P. who bought it about 1816, and he was said to be a Fine Old English Gentleman of the day, and occupied the house until he died aged 73.

The house changed hands once or twice, but finally became the property of J. R. Lysaught who enlarged and improved it. He occupied it until 1873 when he went abroad.
The house was then sold to the Cathcart family. The Cathcarts had the house and land bought for them by an old aunt who didn’t have anyone else to leave her money to, so she bought it for them, and Col. the Hon A. M. Cathcart moved in. During his ownership, he again enlarged and improved it. The original frontage was replaced with what we see today. He also renamed it Mowbray House, as it had been known as Mowbray Hall until this period.
There is a workman’s scrawl on the middle staircase with his name and date 1875.

The census of 1881 shows that he had 13 servants. In 1888 the house was valued at £475, and rates payable were £5 18/-. It was also during the Cathcart’s ownership that the incident relating to holes being dug in the garden where posts were being put on. Whilst digging one particular hole, a workman lost his metal bar in the hole, and it fell quite some way onto what sounded like stone flags, when the shaft or well was reported to Col. Cathcart, but he didn’t want any excavations made.

The next owner was Sir Fred Moore who bought the house in 1922. The Mowbray Estate had been put up for sale in 1921 to be sold as whole, but as no buyer was found, the estate was split up, and sold as separate lots.

Garden plan for Sir Fred Moore in 1922
Sir Fred Moore also paid for the replacement Mechanics Institute in 1936.

Lord and Lady Moore opening The Mechanics Institute on December 22nd 1936 with Rev. Horner, Lord Halifax, Leader of the House of Lords, and Lady Halifax.

Lord and Lady Moore, Jubilee 1935
On his death in 1952, the house and gardens were again sold, and as the dairy had outgrown the site at the top of Main Street, by the early 1960’s, the dairy built their new factory, and bought the house and split it into flats. By this time the gardens were in a very poor state.

The house and outbuildings were sold at auction. The developer turned the house into flats, and sold the outbuildings to the rear of the house to a builder/developer who knocked the servants accommodation and kitchen down. In 1991 the developer who bought the main house wanted to remove the Victorian staircase, and a local resident managed to get it listed as Grade 2.
It was later sold to Major Geoffrey Berry who is the current owner.
Mowbray House, as it stands today, is a Grade 2 listed building described by Historic England as follows:
Country House. Mid C18 and c1870. Coursed rubble with ashlar dressings and C20 tile roof. 8 Ashlar stacks. Ashlar moulded eaves. Quoins. 2 storey. 9 bay east front, with recessed centre, added c1870, with slightly projecting central rusticated pilasters, and doorway with double doors and overlight in ashlar surround with brackets supporting a flat hood with balcony balustrade. Above a plain sash in moulded ashlar surround and above a panel bearing a coat of arms topped by a segmental pediment. Either-side single large plain sashes with single smaller plain sashes above. Slightly projecting 3 bay wings, with 2 large plain sashes and 2 smaller plain sashes above, with beyond 2 storey canted bay windows at either end with rusticated pilaster strips and 3 large plain sashes with 3 smaller plain sashes above. This front is topped by a balustrade. To the left is a screen with blocked arch and 2 open round arches topped with a balustrade and a central pedimented finial. South front, 5 bays with projecting loggia to right, with a single window to right and 3 round arches with keystones, topped by a plain parapet, beyond to left 2 plain sashes and to the right a half-blocked and a blocked window all with plain ashlar surrounds.

Newspaper Cuttings

1798

1828

1838

1840

1840

1841

1841

1844

1844

Link to transcription of Mrs Lawrence’s Will
Will of Mrs. Lawrence.docx
1845

1845

1847

1871

1873

1873

1952

1952

1988

1989

The following are memories from a Mr Croft, written in 1893, with later notes. No record of who/when these were made.

Mr Croft, a Whitesmith and member of the Mechanics Institute Committee, wrote in the Mechanics Institute Log Book in 1893 what he remembered and knew of the village in the 19th Century. He is generally accepted to be correct.
‘The late Tomyns Scott Dickens Esq. in laying out his pleasure grounds (and further extended by the present owner Colonel the Hon. A. M. Cathcart) dug up many ruins of this ancient castle, consisting of bases, shafts, capitals etc. which are still preserved. Many of the architectural remains are to be seen at this time by the side of the carriage drive near Mowbray House.’*
*[Not in the living memory of anyone I have spoken to, and no trace of them now.]
The Hall which was formally belonging to Wm. Tancred Esq. Became the property of T. Walker Esq. afterwards with Tomyns Scott Dickens as tenant. This ……… purchasing it about the year 1816. He was one of the Fine Old Gentlemen of that day who occupied it and was much respected by the people of Kirkby until his decease in 1840, aged 73. After the decease of Mr Dickens it changed hands once or twice and finally became the property of J. R. Lysaught who improved it very much and occupied it up to 1873 when he went abroad. It was then sold and became the property of the present owner Col. The Hon. Mr Cathcart who has again enlarged and improved it very much and it is now designated as Mowbray House.
[Paragraph on the Corn Mill at the bottom of the bank.]
Col. Cathcart having purchased this property it was done away with in the year 1875. The buildings by the beckside above the bridge were built by Mr Lysaught whose property it was when he resided at the Hall. Col. Cathcart has improved and ornamented it much since that time. He has also improved and ornamented the Porters Lodge on the opposite side of the way.
2 points I notice:
(i) It was called Mowbray Hall before the name was changed to Mowbray House.
(ii) The grounds seem to have laid out in 3 stages. (i) Thomas Scott Dickens 1816-1840 (ii) Wm. Lysaught 1840-1873 (iii) Col. Cathcart 1873-1893 when this account was written.

References:
Historic England
Yorkshire Archaeological Journal
1881 Census
Rates Book 1888
Sheila Douglas
West and North Yorkshire Archives
Major G Berry