A little east of the hamlet of Azerley, near Kirkby Malzeard, stands a pretty little cottage with a most unusual feature – from the back of the building rises a slender castellated tower. It was built by the Crompton family of Azerley Hall as a belvedere from which the ‘prospects of the most picturesque description’ were obtained, but it also served as a vantage point to look out for poachers.
Azerley Hall had been a seat of the Dawson family, but was offered to let in 1830 after the death of William Dawson two years earlier. It was described as a ‘Desirable Country Residence’ with outbuildings and pleasure grounds in a ‘genteel neighbourhood’. Robert Edward Crompton (1805-1840) was in residence in the 1830s, and the cottage and tower are believed to have been built soon after 1839 (the tower does not appear on the tithe map of that year, but does appear on the O.S. map surveyed between 1849 and 1853).
In 1861 the tenants were John Jackson and William Wilkinson, both described a few years earlier as ‘game watchers in the employ of Col Crompton’. This was Edward’s brother, Joshua Samuel Crompton (1799-1881). Despite the presence of the look-out tower the problems with poachers continued, particularly under cover of darkness, and being a game watcher was a dangerous job. In 1856 Jackson was pelted with rocks by a trespasser, and a year later an intruder attempted to shoot him. Fortuitously, the gun failed, and the poacher was caught and jailed.
The tower also had a more refined use as an observatory ‘from whence to survey the country, not the heavens’, and the rooftop gave a ‘most extensive and interesting view of the surrounding country’. This view often featured the Bedale Hounds in action, and the tower may have allowed the ladies of the family the opportunity to ‘accompany the sportsmen in the chace [sic] with their eyes, if not amazonially on horseback’ – a potential purpose of belvederes suggested by Francis Goodwin in his Rural Architecture of 1835.
The Crompton family opened the grounds of Azerley Hall (by now alternatively known as Azerley Chase) for charitable events such as the Wesleyan Sunday School treat of 1898. On that day there were games in the gardens and a tea, but the highlight was the chance to climb the tower and admire the ‘splendid panoramic view’.
Later still the tower was used by the Corps of Signallers as an army training camp: in 1911 they practised signalling between Ripon Cathedral, Kirkby Malzeard church and Azerley Tower. In the 21st century the top of the tower was put to a novel sporting purpose as a stand for firing clays at a charity clay pigeon shoot.
The whereabouts of a small stone model of the tower, which apparently once stood in front of the full-size version, remains a mystery. It was last seen in situ in 1978 but, despite an appeal for information via the local paper some 20 years later, no trace can been found today.
The cottage and tower ensemble is listed at grade II. It is a private home and there is no public access but the top of the tower can be glimpsed from public footpaths and from the road between Kirkby Malzeard and Ripon (with great care).
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