The Early Years 1755-1776
The current stone buildings at Old Moor began to appear in 1755 as is suggested by the datestone above the door of the main entrance. Buildings were added and modified as the years passed to leave what is the modern day RSPB Old Moor site.
A report by Yorkshire Vernacular Building Study Group in 2023 together with a series of maps dating from its sale in 1776 lays out how the farm evolved from the original version. Earlier reports tell us that beams in the farmhouse are several hundred years older than 1755. That offers up two possibilities, there was an earlier wooden building on site or the beams were re-used from another location. Neither of the two Tudor surveys in 1516 and 1620 contain any mention of buildings on site so it is probable that the beams were brought in from elsewhere.
Until 1776 Old Moor (approximately 254 acres) was owned by the Wombwell/St Leger family. It is thought that the landowners had employed their own tenant farmers to oversee running of the farm. Records suggest that the first occupant was Edward Bramald and his family. In 1757 an advert in the Leeds Intelligencer newspaper reveals the first indication that horses would play an important part in the history and heritage of Old Moor. Edward Bramald was offering a one guinea reward following the theft of a horse.
1731 had seen the death of the last male in the Wombwell family line and as a result his lands were divided between his two daughters Margaret and Elizabeth. Margaret inherited Old Moor and after her marriage to Anthony St Leger in 1761 they remained here for a further 15 years.
Old Moor Farm 