Howley Hall ruins and the story of Nevison the Highwayman.
Howley Hall at Batley, completed in 1590
Howley Hall ruins, situated in Batley don’t look much to the eye. Four hundred and twenty four years after the Elizabethan mansion was finished at a cost of £100,000, little remains to be seen of this once beautifully palatial winged super structure. Back then, this was an astronomical sum of money for a grand building. Built under the command of Sir Robert Savile between 1585 and 1590, the courtyarded and multi-towered Tudor stately home was a fine and splendid residence which over looked what was then a sleepy little medieval town.
Batley had been founded in Saxon times, most likely by a Germanic immigrant named Bata, perhaps meaning ‘Blessed from the Latin term ‘Beatus’. This name is thought to have given rise to the later Batt or Battye famiy, a prominent local land owning dynasty, and obviously to the name of the town, which was recorded as Bateleia in the Domesday Survey of 1086.
Batley’s Doomsday entry of 1086
Built upon a prominent outcrop of terraced terrain, the hall at Howley was an extravagant, elegant affair. According to research undertaken by English Heritage, its architect was said to be Robert Smythson although it is suggested that a local architect Abraham Ackroyd, may have been the designer. It is reputed that Inigo Jones had an involvement here although this has little foundation. The halls builder, or rather commissioner, Sir Robert Savile was one of the county of Lincolnshire’s richest inhabitants. Work commenced in the year 1585, and completion took a five whole years.
Situated between Batley and the neighbouring market town of Morley, the picturesque residence of this well connected Northern family was hewn out local stone on a parcel of land that offered stunning, panoramic views across the valley of the winding River Calder, an ancient and important local waterway. Rather unfortunately, Sir Robert would pass away later the year construction began, and the task of completion passed to his son, Sir John Savile. John was a Member of Parliament for Yorkshire, Privy Councillor during the Parliament of King James 1st, as well as a bearer of the titles of Baron of Pontefract and in 1626 Alderman of Leeds.
The Savile Owl
It is from the families owl inspired coat of arms that the city of Leeds owes its emblem, the bird of wisdom. One such depiction of the Savile owl is still visible on the western wall of the golf clubhouse, formerly the Chief Bailiff’s house, just by the 18th green at nearby Howley Hall Golf Club.
An ancient sketch of Howley Hall, complete with perimeter wall, battlements and gatehouse
Finally finished in 1590 after five years of construction, and a gargantuan budget, it quickly garnered acclaim as one of the most ornate and elegant of buildings ever to be constructed in the county of Yorkshire. Its expanse covered some fifty-six square metres, enveloping a central courtyard.
It was In 1830, a century after the hall was destroyed, after gradually succumbing to rack and ruin, that the notable Morley historian, Norrisson Scatcherd, recorded:
“…it appears to have been a fine ancient halled house constructed with a strict regard to proportion and regularity, with a projecting centre on the south side ornamented with columns, capitals and mouldings. The whole seems crowned with battlements, and the cupolas surmounted by weathercocks rise among the chimneys with eastern grandeur…”
The GatehouseThe approach from the roadAs the hall appeared in a painting from the 18th Century. (Oil on canvas, 51.5 x 76 cm Collection: Kirklees Museums and Galleries)
In 1630 Sir John Savile would die. He was succeeded by his son, later earl of Sussex Sir Thomas. Drawn into the English Civil War, he was seen as something of a slippery character, and was not to be trusted by either side, Royalist Cavalier or Parliamentarian Roundhead. Whilst Sir Thomas was in company of the monarch King Charles I, Howley Hall was occupied by Lupset based Sir John Savile, known as ‘The Old Devil of Howley’. It came to be that it was besieged on 22nd June, 1643, by the Northern commander of the Royalist army, William Cavendish, the Earl of Newcastle. Though partially pocked by cannon shot, the hall managed to stay remarkably well preserved. After three long days of siege and bombardment, Sir John surrendered to the surrounding troops of Cavendish. It seems that Sir Thomas, later Lord Savile, spent further resources adding to and embellishing the house until his passing in about the year 1660. It would then pass to his son, Lord James for a short while, before he himself would die in 1671. With there being a distinct lack of a male heir, Lord James’ sister, Frances, assumed the mantle of the property and estate. In 1668 she had been wed to Francis Brudenell, the younger brother of the Earl of Cardigan. Frances however was an infrequent visitor to Howley, and eventually, inevitably the condition of the house declined over time. Sometime between 1717 and 1730 the house was sadly slighted, being blown apart with gunpowder, on the orders of the then Earl of Cardigan. It has remained a magnificent ruin ever since. Stone by stone, it has become less and less, with much of the original building material being carried away to Batley, Birstalll and Morley, with this ‘robber stone’ used to construct many local buildings, including the present Howley Hall Golf Club and adjacent farm buildings.
Last corner stack, Howley Hall as it appeared in an engraving from the past
Long after the hall had been blasted to nothing more than wildly strewn masonry and rubble by Cardigan, it still remained an important stopping point for travellers on the pack horse trail between Wakefield, Leeds and York. This highway was to be in use for a long time, right up until the development of the railways, and modern, car friendly roads. However, looking back in time, it was here that in the year 1684 Darcy Fletcher, a constable had been shot and killed. Fletcher had tried to arrest the notorious 17th Century Highwayman John ‘Swift Nix’ Nevison (also known as William Nevison) near Howley Hall, just above the hamlet of Soothill, originally meaning South Well, and claimed by a later Sir John Savile in his book Howley Hall in the 19th Century to be the origin of the surname Savile. Thought to have been born at Wortley, South Yorkshire in 1639, Nevison somehow wound up as a villain, robbing hapless and unsuspecting folk up and down the land. Nevison is said to have earned a reputation as a gentleman highwayman, avoiding the use violence against his victims, exhibiting excellent manners, always showing politeness, and only stealing from the rich. After the fatal shots were fired, Nevison fled. Another account is of a knife-wound inflicted upon Fletcher in a tussle. Swift Nix was arrested on 6 March 1684 at the Magpie Inn (later to become he Three Houses Inn) at Sandal Magna not far from the ruined Castle near Wakefield. He was tried for Fletcher’s murder and was transported to York. Due to Nevison’s breaching of a previous pardon, the judge who was possibly Richard Wallop (1616-1697) or even Geoege Jeffreys (1645 -1689), 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem who was known as ‘The Hanging Judge’, told him he “must dye, for he was a terrour to the country”. John ‘Swift Nix’ Nevison was hanged at the Knavesmire on may 4th 1685 and laid to rest in an unmarked grave in the church yard of St Mary’s on Castlegate.
Depiction of the 1684 hanging of Nevison at York, with a portrait of the man, inset.Copy of a cutting referencing ‘Ballads and Songs of Yorkshire, 1860’, and the story of Nevison.
There were poems written and ballads sung of Nevison’s legendary life. One such version of the 17th century song is this:
Did you ever hear told of that hero,
Bold Nevison it was his name,
And he rode about like a brave hero,
And by that he gained a great fame.
Now when I rode on the highway,
I always had money in store,
And whatever I took from the rich
Why I freely gave it to the poor
I have never robbed no man of tuppence
And I’ve never done murder nor killed.
Though guilty I’ve been all my lifetime
So gentlemen do as you please.
Drawing of the stone where Nevison killed Fletcher, Howley Hall.Account of Nevison’s Stone from page 27 of Howley Hall by Sir John Savile, 19th Century book.As the Hall appears in the modern eraHowley Hall – as it might have been seen from the 17th green. (Drawing courtesy of Stewart and Marilyn Ainsworth)
The Book on Howley Hall written by a later Sir John Savile, published in the 19th Century. Published by J Fearnsides and Sons, Commercial Street, Batley. 4th Edition.
Dunn Digital Copy 