Origins of Dog Kennel Lane

During my boyhood in the late 1940s-early 1950s, the lane on the west side of Langthorpe officially called “Lowfields Lane” was always known colloquially as “Dog Kennel Lane”. At the time this was accepted and the reasons for the name were not known. The name was thought to have a certain appeal and was chosen as the title for our project.
It was always thought  by the project group that it would be interesting to try and find out the name’s origins. One of the visits arranged by the group was to the West Yorkshire Archive Service at Morley, to look at records, particularly for Newby Hall Estate.

There, surprisingly, we found an 1842 Tithe Map of Langthorpe, showing a building down Dog Kennel Lane denoted by a number “59”. The document corresponding to this map showed number “59” as “Dog Kennels”, occupied by John Wincup who lived at the Red Lion Inn in Langthorpe.  It is assumed that the kennels were used for hunting hounds.

One of our interesting finds was a reference to Dog Kennel Lane in “North Yorkshire History: The Diaries of John Stubbs 1853-60”. This is an interesting blog compiled by Alice Barrigan.  An extract from A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850’s refers to: “Taking visitors to see the Devils Arrows or the Aldborough Pavement; riding his cousin Richard Hirst’s mare to the top of Gibbet Hill; going to the river “To bathe through the pasture and jolly it was”; walking down the river passed Ramsdens; walking through Langthorpe down Dog Kennel Lane; going to the Water Cress Spring near Low Dunsforth; walking to Ouseburn Bar”.

There was an old carriageway from Boroughbridge to Newby Hall via Brampton Hall which travelled, for the first half mile, along Dog Kennel Lane. This is clearly shown on the Jeffery’s map (1771), The Smith’s map of Yorkshire (1832), and T. Bradley’s River Ure Book (1891). There is also reference to this old road in the book by Alex D.H. Leadman (1884).

When describing Brampton Hall “A former home of the Tancreds”, he quotes: “A carriage road from Newby Hall to Boroughbridge passed close by Brampton Hall, between an avenue of splendid trees, including numerous fine specimens of walnut and black cherry trees, but neither road or avenue can now be traced.”

David Barley – 2015