While there is no doubt that Harewood Close, Plympton is named after Harewood House, Plympton, it is not clear why Harewood House was so-called in the first place. Harewood House appears to have been built just after 1800 and was for many years in the hands of the Tolcher family – Edward Tolcher was certainly living there in 1830 and perhaps he took his lead from Edward Lascelles, the first Earl of Harewood, who had his Harewood House built in Leeds in 1760.
While its grand and illustrious namesake attracts over 100,000 visitors a year, the current Plympton House of that name is a replacement for the local earlier building. In 1985 fire destroyed a large part of the original house, which had been sold to the Plympton RDC in 1949, and when repairs were being considered the discovery of dry rot prompted a decision to demolish the old property and build a new one, which former Plympton librarian, Phil Armson recalls was opened in February 1988, just before he retired.
The neighbouring Harewood Close, having been a vacant site with planning consent for many years, was developed, with a number of small bungalows, around the same time.
