Lowther Castle
Lowther Castle is the ruin of a country house in the English county of Cumbria (formerly: Westmorland ). It has belonged to the Lowther family , the Earls of Lonsdale , since the Middle Ages.
history
At the end of the 17th century, John Lowther, 1st Viscount of Lonsdale , had the family seat, which until then was called Lowther Hall , rebuilt in a grand style. The current building is a crenellated country house built by Robert Smirke for William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale , 1806–1814 . Only since then has the property been called "Lowther Castle". Family fortunes were badly damaged by the extravaganza of Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale , a noted member of the Top Ten Thousand. Therefore the country house was closed in 1937. During the Second World War it was used as quarters for a tank regiment. The contents were removed from the country house at the end of the 1940s and the roof was covered in 1957, leaving the building to decay. The bare construction is still owned by the Lowther Estate Trust today .
George Macartney , during his visit to the Chinese Emperor's summer residence in Chengde in 1793, could only compare the grandeur of this building with Lowther Hall:
“If any place in England can be said to have similar details to the Western Park, which I can say today, this is Lowther Hall in Westmorland, which (when I saw it many years ago) of the magnitude of the view great details of the surroundings, the posh location, the diversity of the surfaces, the vast forests and the predominance of water, I think can be described as the most beautiful place in the British Dominions by a man of understanding, spirit and taste. "
In the 19th century, an East India Company ship , the HCS Lowther Castle , was named after the property.
William and Augusta Lowther, 1st Earl and Countess of Lonsdale
William Lowther was born in 1757 and was about 52 years old when he had Lowther Castle built. He was the eldest son of Reverend Sir William Lowther and Anne Zouch . He studied at Cambridge University and in 1780, at the age of 23, became a Member of Parliament. A year later he married Lady Augusta Fane , daughter of John, 9th Earl of Westmorland . He was a MP for 22 years until 1802 when he inherited the estate from his cousin, James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale .
Sir James Lowther had a rather inglorious history. He went into great debt to William Wordsworth's father and, despite many admonitions from the family, refused to pay them. When he died in 1802 and his cousin William inherited his property, the latter immediately repaid the money to the Wordsworth family, including interest. He also made friends with William Wordsworth and gave him financial support. Wordsworth stayed at Lowther Castle frequently, for it was there that he wrote many of his published letters.
Wordsworth wrote a number of poems for William Lowther. Part of a verse about Lowther Castle reads:
"Lowther! in thy majestic pile are seen
Cathedral pomp and grace in apt accord
With the baronial castle's sterner mien "
Lady Augusta Lonsdale, William's wife, was also a patron of the arts and she had an album in which some of the poets who visited Lowther Castle wrote their verses. Wordsworth wrote a long poem in her honor in the album, which can also be found in his published work.
Robert Southey , another well-known poet, was also a frequent visitor to the country house and he also wrote on Lady Lonsdale's album. One of his verses about Lowther Castle is:
"Lowther! have I beheld thy stately walls,
Thy pinnacles, and broad embattled brow,
And hospitable halls.
The sun those wide spread battlements shall crest,
And silent years unharming shall go by,
Till centuries in their course invest
Thy towers with sanctity. "
The Earl and Countess also encouraged artists to visit Lowther Castle. The most famous of them was William Turner . There he painted the recently acquired painting "Lowther Castle - Evening", which hangs in the Bowes Museum . William Lowther also became the patron of Jacob Thompson , who painted the portrait of him shown above.
In 1839 Mrs. Harriette Story visited Paige Lowther Castle with Daniel Webster , a well-known US politician. A detailed account of their experiences can be read in their diary:
“We got to Lowther Castle just at lunchtime, contrary to English etiquette, which usually sets the arrival time at 1–2 hours before dinner when guests first meet when the meal is announced. The country house bell was rung as we drove through the arched stone doorway after driving through posh parks. ”
Daniel Webster's wife also kept a diary and described her experience of the same visit to Lowther Castle.
William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale
William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale, was born in 1787. He went to Harrow School and also studied at Cambridge University. In 1808 he followed in his father's footsteps and became a politician. He was a member of parliament for the next 33 years until 1841. 1844 inherited Lowther Castle after the death of his father. He did not get married, but had several unmarried children. Two of them inherited large sums of money from him after his death. One of them was a daughter, Frances Lowther , born in 1818 to the Parisian opera dancer Pierre-Narcisse Chaspoux . Narcisse later had a liaison with Charles Lewis Meryon and in 1821 gave birth to Charles Meryon , the well-known French painter. Frances Lowther later married MP Henry Broadwood and had several children.
The other child William Lowther inherited was Francis William Lowther , an officer in the Royal Navy . He was born in 1841; his mother was Emilia Cresotti , a singer at the Paris Opera. William also appears to have had two other single daughters. One was Marie Caroline Lowther Saintfal , born in 1818 by Caroline Saintfal and entered in the Paris registry. The other was from the famous French ballerina Lise Noblet , who William Lowther wrote about his daughter.
William Lowther died in 1872 and, because he had no legitimate heirs, the Lowther Castle estate fell to his nephew Henry Lowther .
Henry and Emily Lowther, 3rd Earl and Countess of Lonsdale
Henry Lowther was 54 years old when he inherited the family estate. He died just four years later at a pneumonia . Therefore, he had little influence on the development of Lowther Castle.
Henry Lowther was born in 1818. He was the nephew of the 2nd Earl of Lonsdale as he was the eldest son of the Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther , the brother of the 2nd Earl. His mother was Lady Lucy Sherard . He attended Westminster School and then Cambridge University. In 1841 he joined the 1st Regiment of Life Guards ( cavalry regiment of the British Army ). He was also a Member of Parliament for West Cumberland from 1847 to 1872.
In 1852 he married Emily Susan Caulfield , daughter of Mr. St George Caulfield of Donoman Castle in Roscommon , Ireland . The couple had six children. When Henry Lowther died in 1878, his son St George Lowther inherited the property and became the 4th Earl of Lonsdale.
St George and Gladys Lowther, 4th Earl and Countess of Lonsdale
St George Lowther was born in 1855 and was only 23 years old when he inherited Lowther Castle. His passion was exploring the world and when he inherited the family fortune, he spent much of his time aboard his two steam yachts and made long journeys to distant parts of the world. He had a scientific interest in the ocean, and his in-depth studies of the behavior of the Gulf Stream were important enough to be published by the American Hydrological Department .
In 1878 he married Lady Gladys Herbert , a well-known figure in the Top Ten Thousand. She was recognized as “one of the professional beauties, a select group of half a dozen women in society who, like today's supermodels, were constantly talked about and whose portraits were publicly marketed. Everything about her seemed impressive. She was six feet (1.82 meters) tall and her dark eyes and brilliant coloring made every woman look pale next to him. "
The marriage of the two was not seen as a success, as St George was constantly on the move and Gladys was trapped in a society that did not find his approval. Gladys often held parties at Lowther Castle and one of her visitors was Lilly Langtry , who is said to have been King Edward VII's mistress . In her autobiography, Lilly Langtry describes her stay at Lowther Castle as follows:
“Lady Gladys Herbert, who would later become Countess of Lonsdale, was extraordinarily pretty, with brilliant coloring and the look and demeanor of an ideal Roman empress. We were close friends and almost inseparable for a while. I spent part of a summer with her at Lowther Castle, soon after their first marriage, she picked me up at the Carlisle train station in her pony cart and drove me to the country house. As we whizzed through the park and the impressive walls of Lowther Castle loomed in front of us, she pretended that what she was most afraid of to show me was the emu strutting across the grass. ”
In 1882, St George Lowther died at the age of 26 after a brief illness that was followed by pneumonia. His younger brother Hugh Cecil Lowther inherited the country house.
Hugh and Grace Lowther, 5th Earl and Countess of Lonsdale
Hugh Cecil Lowther was born in 1857 and was 25 years old when he inherited the country house. He was the 3rd Earl's second son and was not expected to be manager of the property and had not been raised accordingly. He was only at the school in Eton for two years, which he left when he was 12 and used his time for sporting activities.
In 1878, four years before he received his inheritance, Hugh married Lady Grace Gordon , the third daughter of Charles Gordon, 10th Marquess of Huntly , who had been his senior for three years. Her family was against marriage as Hugh Lowther was not rich at the time and did not appear responsible. He confirmed this judgment of his character the following year when he invested a large sum of money in cattle in America. The company collapsed and the Lowther family had to save him financially.
The couple then lived with Oakham, and Grace became pregnant but fell badly while hunting and lost their baby. After that she was unable to have children and remained partially disabled throughout her life.
After Hugh Lowther became a family member in 1882, he pursued his many hobbies. He bought fox-colored horses , wagons and many other extravagances. He had yellow liveried lackeys , a chamberlain , a chamberlain, and a music master who instructed 24 musicians who went from house to house. His household traveled on its own train. Hugh Lowther stated that he was the last Lowther because of his childlessness, thereby overlooking the rights of his younger brother Lancelot Lowther , who should inherit a largely empty estate.
In August 1895, the German Emperor visited Lowther Castle to hunt grouse and the imperial flag fluttered over the house. The kings of Italy and Portugal also came later, as did the German Kaiser a second time in 1902. Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded Lord Lonsdale the Prussian Order of the Crown, first class, and gave him a Mercedes . Because of his love for cars, Hugh Lowther became the first president of the Automobile Association . He was also the first President of the Royal International Horse Show at the Olympics . In 1920 the walls of the Horse Show Arena were decorated with a replica of the Lowther Castle gardens.
During World War I , Hugh Lowther was instrumental in founding the Blue Cross, where his primary role was that of the men and horse recruiting officer. He had his own Pals Battalion called the Lonsdale Battalion (11th Battalion, Border Regiment ). This battalion was almost wiped out in the summer battle .
After the war, Hugh Lowther gave up the hunt and became more interested in racehorses. He became a senior steward of the Jockey Club . He could only record one major victory, and that was in St. Leger in 1922. He was rarely seen in the House of Lords .
Because of his extravagance, he was forced to sell some of his inherited properties. Whitehaven Castle was sold in 1921 and Barleythorpe in 1926 . In the same year the coal mines in West Cumberland were closed. In 1935 he left Lowther Castle because he could no longer afford to live there and moved into a smaller house. Grace Lowther died in 1941 and three years later, in 1944, Hugh Lowther also died at the age of 87.
After Lowther Castle closed
In 1939 and 1940 the country house was requisitioned by the War Ministry and used for the development of tanks. It was not returned to the family until 1954. However, the family could no longer afford to use and maintain the country house and offered to hand it over to the National Trust or other institutions, but there were no buyers during these post-war economic depression. So that the family did not have to pay high taxes, they had the country house cleared out and the roof removed.
Hugh Lowther was the last resident of Lowther Castle. His brother Lancelot Lowther, 6th Earl of Lonsdale , inherited the property in 1944, but was forced to sell many of the family heirlooms due to his brother's high debts. A major auction was held in 1947. Lancelot Lowther died in 1953 and was succeeded by his grandson, James Lowther, 7th Earl of Lonsdale .
James Lowther wanted to develop the property further and focused on farming. He saw Lowther Castle as an extravaganza. On his return from World War II , he said: "It was a place that can be seen as an example of great imperial decadence in a time of common poverty." The army damaged the property and buildings during the war and the country house stood for many years empty. James Lowther offered the country house as a gift to three local authorities, but all declined. Back then, the two remaining options for large country houses were to open them to the public or to demolish them. He couldn't afford the former and was forced to demolish the property. He left the walls of the country house in silhouette. The forecourt became a pigsty and he used the concrete surfaces on the lawn in the south as a foundation for a chicken farm. The rest of the gardens were used for wood production.
The Lost Gardens of Lowther Castle
Lowther Castle gardens were abandoned in 1935. Until then, they showed centuries of careful cultivation by successive generations of the Lowther family. There is a detailed description of the gardens written at the time of the 5th Earl, the last inhabitant of Lowther Castle. This description is given below.
Gardens on the west side of the country house
“At the back of the bushes behind the terrace is the rock garden. This was Lady Lonsdale's special interest and is best known for its unique collection of Alpine plants and Japanese dwarf maples, which turn scarlet and crimson in the fall. All kinds of climbing plants stretch over rustic tree trunks and rustic bridges span his water lily ponds. "
“Nearby, only accessible via two almost invisible paths and completely hidden is the garden of sweet smells. This one differs from the other gardens - an oval piece of jewelery surrounded by tall, dark bushes. All known sweet smelling flowers grow here in round and oval beds arranged along the middle part with fragrant lilies in the middle of each bed. (These fragrant lilies can be seen in the photo to the right.) Around the edges of this oasis of concentrated smells are rustic seats on honeysuckle tree trunks. In between there are small ponds that are fed by miniature waterfalls. (These hydraulic engineering facilities can still be found in the Garden of Sweet Smells at Lowther Castle.) In the central bed is a French vase that was originally in the garden of a house in Koblenz and was greatly admired by Lord Lonsdale when he was in Germany for army maneuvers . The lines of Omar Khayyam are carved around them, starting with “Oh moon of my delight”. This detail was placed in the Garden of Sweet Smells by the German Kaiser himself as a gift to Lord Lonsdale when he was visiting Lowther Castle. Lord and Lady Lonsdale came to this garden most evenings after dinner - to sit and enjoy the scents and the tranquility. "
"Close by and also hidden is the Japanese garden, adorned with Chinese and Japanese ornaments, life-size bronze birds and animals, Japanese shrines, dwarf trees, scarlet lacquer bridges in miniature lakes, filled with Japanese water lilies and irises, tiny islands and hidden paths."
“The rose garden is below the Japanese garden. Around 25,000 rose bushes are planted there, with tufted rose tents in all four corners. The bushes are planted on a strip of green lawn with a fountain and a small rock in the middle. (The remains of the fountain can still be seen in the garden today.) At the end of the rose garden there is an iris garden, enclosed by a cut hedge and with further lily ponds with stone seats and lead figures in and around them. "
The terrace
“The terrace is one of three natural terraces that were created within the property by subsidence in the past few days - the underground rocks and stones were left bare. It is a little southwest of the country house and has been planted with lawn and clad with stones on the steep side so that deer or cattle cannot go up there or rabbits can get in. The created part of this layout is about 1.6 km long and bordered on the garden side with trees and bushes. From the terrace, the view over the mountains in the background is unparalleled. Below, in the foreground of the landscape, the River Lowther meanders - sometimes over sandbanks and rapids with deep ravines and spanned at intervals by stone arch bridges. Rolling hills lie between the river and Haves Water and, if you look to the left, you have an uninterrupted, mile-wide view across the park to the fells . Lord Lonsdale and his brother Lancelot had a large rustic summer house built in the center of the terrace, which contains an old water clock from one of the earlier Lowther houses and which bears the inscription "Night cometh" .
Gardens east of the country house
“Hugh's garden was laid out according to the plans of Lord Lonsdale himself shortly before the First World War, and its wonderful layout was modeled on Versailles . From a raised piece of land southeast of the country house, six wide lawn avenues radiate down the slope like the spokes of a huge wheel, the wider the further they lead down the slope. The avenues are divided by beautifully cut, high yew hedges, the upper edges of which are cut into strange shapes at intervals. There are 3km of these hedges and flower beds along their lower ends have been planted with thousands of ground covers - a fire of glory from early spring to late autumn. Some beautiful old Italian well heads in hewn stone with wrought iron crowns are arranged here and there in the middle of the wheel. The conception of this garden was carried out exclusively by Lord Lonsdale himself. The view from the hub of this wheel is similar to that from the terrace. "
"In the near Hugh's garden is Jack Croft Pond, originally a cattle trough, but now converted into a charming water surface" .
conservation
In 2000, Lowther Estate and English Heritage jointly commissioned a team of historians, landscape architects, architects and civil engineers to assess the condition of the country house and property. They presented the Lowther Castle & Garden Conservation Plan . In 2005, Lowther Estate formed an informal partnership with the Northwest Development Agency , English Heritage, Cumbria Vision, and the Royal Horticultural Society to remanufacture the site. The plans include securing the ruins, restoring the 20 hectare garden and opening the property to the public. Sheppard Robson of the Royal Institute of British Architects has been named architect of this work. The mansion and 52 acres of land were transferred to a charitable foundation called the Lowther Castle and Gardens Trust and on April 22, 2011 the site was opened to the public. However, the complete restoration of the gardens should take 20-25 years.
Events
The Kendal Calling music festival and Born Survivor , a 10 km obstacle course, take place in the deer park of Lowther Castle .
Web links
- Welcome to Lowther . Lowther Estate
- Welcome to Kendal Calling in the Beautiful Lake District . Kendal Calling.
- Restoration - Cumbria's fairytale castle . BBC Home.
- Lowther Castle . Heritage and History.
Individual evidence
- ^ Travels in China . Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ Lowther Castle Ship's Medical Log . Syracuse University. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ The History of Parliament: "William Lowther (1757-1844)" . Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ Lonsdale, Henry 1867 “The Worthies of Cumberland”. P. 19 . Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ John Hudson: A complete guide to the Lakes: comprising minute directions for the tourist with Mr. Wordsworth's description of the scenery of the country . 1846. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ William Wordsworth: "The complete poetical works of William Wordsworth" . 1910. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ↑ Robert Suthey: Lowther Stanzas Written in Lady Lonsdale's album at Lowther Castle . Bartleby. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ The Art Tribune, March 26, 1913.
- ↑ Harriette Story Paige: Daniel Webster in England . Houghton Mifflin Company. Pp. 216-234. 1839. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ↑ Harriette Story Paige: Daniel Webster in England . Houghton Mifflin Company. Pp. 217, 1839. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ Caroline Webster: Mr. W. & I, "being the authentic diary of Caroline Le Roy Webster . 1942. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ Margaret Escott: History of Parliament . Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ Roger Collins: Charles Meryon: A Life . Garton and Co. ISBN 978-0-906030-35-6 . Pp. 4-6.
- ^ Roger Collins: Charles Meryon: A Life . Garton and Co. ISBN 978-0-906030-35-6 . P. 263.
- ^ Roger Collins: Charles Meryon: A Life . Garton and Co. ISBN 978-0-906030-35-6 . P. 268.
- ↑ Henry Lowther, 3rd Earl of Lonsdale on thepeerage.com , accessed September 10, 2016.
- ↑ Douglas Sutherland: The Yellow Earl: The life of Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale . Cassel and Company, London 1966. ISBN 978-1-910723-03-6 . P. 29.
- ↑ Ann Blainey: I Am Melba . Black Inc., Melbourne 2009. ISBN 978-1-863953-67-2 . P. 86.
- ↑ Lillian Langtry: The Days I Knew . Panoply Publications, North Hollywood 2000. ISBN 978-1-886571-13-6 . P. 69.
- ^ Mark Blackett-Ord: Lowther, Hugh Cecil, fifth earl of Lonsdale (1857-1944) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. 2004. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ Lowther Family History . Lowser, Lake District. Archived from the original on July 8, 2016. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ Lionel Dawson: Lonsdale. The Authorized Life of Hugh Lowther, Fifth Earl of Londsdale . 1946. pp. 150-152.
- ^ Lionel Dawson: Lonsdale. The Authorized Life of Hugh Lowther, Fifth Earl of Londsdale . 1946. pp. 151-152.
- ^ Lionel Dawson: Lonsdale. The Authorized Life of Hugh Lowther, Fifth Earl of Londsdale . 1946. p. 150.
- ^ Lionel Dawson: Lonsdale. The Authorized Life of Hugh Lowther, Fifth Earl of Londsdale . 1946. p. 151.
Coordinates: 54 ° 36 ′ 21 ″ N , 2 ° 44 ′ 25 ″ W.