A house worth crowing about: There's a 20ft cockerel outside

A REMARKABLE set of archive photographs has shone new light on the history of a Yorkshire village.
Burngarth Cottage in Bishop Monkton, near Harrogate, where a 25ft topiary cockerel has been nurtured since 1910 and is now trimmed by owner Richard Harper. Picture: Glen MinikinBurngarth Cottage in Bishop Monkton, near Harrogate, where a 25ft topiary cockerel has been nurtured since 1910 and is now trimmed by owner Richard Harper. Picture: Glen Minikin
Burngarth Cottage in Bishop Monkton, near Harrogate, where a 25ft topiary cockerel has been nurtured since 1910 and is now trimmed by owner Richard Harper. Picture: Glen Minikin

Burngarth Cottage, in the village of Bishop Monkton, between Harrogate and Ripon, boasts an impressive topiary cockerel that has stood guard for more than 100 years.

It has been photographed in its various stages since 1910, and has grown to almost the height of the Grade II listed cottage it overlooks.

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Its present owner, retired auctioneer Richard Harper, 60, bought the £450,000 property nine years ago, and now spends hours each summer keeping it in shape.

Burngarth Cottage in Bishop Monkton, near Harrogate, where a 25ft topiary cockerel has been nurtured since 1910 and is now trimmed by owner Richard Harper. Picture: Glen MinikinBurngarth Cottage in Bishop Monkton, near Harrogate, where a 25ft topiary cockerel has been nurtured since 1910 and is now trimmed by owner Richard Harper. Picture: Glen Minikin
Burngarth Cottage in Bishop Monkton, near Harrogate, where a 25ft topiary cockerel has been nurtured since 1910 and is now trimmed by owner Richard Harper. Picture: Glen Minikin

He said: “I have been making the tail bigger because I didn’t think it was as it should be for a cockerel. But the real artist was whoever designed it all those years ago.”

The family of Mr Harper’s next-door neighbour Rodney Wilson cared for the cockerel for nearly a century and say it served as the backdrop to Bishop Monkton’s celebrations of King George V’s silver jubilee in 1935, among other events.