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THE CHAPEL OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS AT 

 HAREWOOD. 



The present structure was erected in 1863-4 upon the site of the ancient 

 chapel, whose time-worn foundations crumbled to sand as they were exposed 

 to view in the process of rebuiLling. The date of tlie original building is 

 unknown. It is stated by Dugdale to have been granted with the lands around 

 it to the Knights Templars. Their sovereign possessions throughout Christendom 

 were accompanied by Ecclesiastical rights that brooked no rival, even in the 

 growing power of the Papacy ; and their successors the Knights of St. John of 

 Jerusalem preserved the same independence wherever the lands they had htld 

 escaped division amongst different proprietors. Harewood, or as it is called in 

 Domesday " Hirewde," was one of the few that preserved their entirety, and 

 thus retained its ancient immunities and exemption from Ecclesiastical jurisdic- 

 tion. It was purchased soon af^er the restoration of Charles II., by Sir Bennet 

 Hoskyns, of the former proprietor, to whom it had devolved after the dissolution 

 of religious houses. From the number of skeletons found in the meadow 

 below the chapel at the time of its restoration by the purchasers, it would seem 

 that the cemetery was formerly much more extensive than at present. From 

 that time the services have been supported, and it has been used for mortuary 

 purposes by the successors of Sir Bennet. The architectural character of the 

 original building had, in the course of repeated reparations, almost totally disap- 

 peared ; and it has been rebuilt in accordance with its reputed style, corres- 

 ponding with many of the Temple churches still existing, viz., Norman and 

 Early English, under the designs of T. H. Rushforth, Esq., the architect of the 

 beautiful little church of Welsh Bioknor, in this county. It is (with the excep- 

 tion of the groined ceiling) entirely of the old red sandstone, the interior lined 

 with the stones remaining of the old church. Like other Temple churches it is 

 without a chancel, the sacrarium being merely indicated by a step and a 

 difference in the workmanship. The mortuary cloister forms a picturesque 

 external feature, surmounted by cinqfoil windows above, which give the effect 

 of a clerestory. The west end is in massive Early Norman style, pierced by 

 two windows of stained glass, by Clayton and Bell, presented by Lord Justice 

 Page Wood and Lady Wood, one (over the font) representing the Baptism in 

 the Jordan, the other the subject of the text, "Suffer the little children to 

 come unto me." Approaching the east end, the Early English style gradually 

 prevails, terminating in three lancet-headed windows (the gift of Mrs. Hardman 

 Philips, of Gwern Vale) by Messrs. Hardman and Powell, the centre window 

 representing " Our Lord in glory," on either side "St. Jlichael triumphant over 

 Evil," and the "Divine Healer." The lights are divided by triple shafts of 

 serpentine, and surmount a massive string-course of alabaster. The feature of 

 the interior is the groined ceiling, a masterpiece of geometrical workmanship, 

 though the first work of the kind both by the architect and the builder (Messrs. 

 Peaj-son, of Ross), on whom it reflects high credit. The bold ribs of the groins 



