Lawson Park
Encyclopedia
Lawson Park is a remote English
Lake District
hillfarm, leased by Grizedale Arts
(a contemporary art commissioner) from the Forestry Commission
. It is situated opposite the village of Coniston
overlooking Coniston Water.
A major refurbishment by architects Sutherland Hussey in 2007/8/9 has seen the farm transformed into a residency and office base for Grizedale Arts. It now offers live/work residencies to contemporary artists and hosts events and conferences periodically. Grizedale Arts director Adam Sutherland has furnished the building with a notable collection of works by British designers and manufacturers from 1820 to the present day. Circa 15 acres (60,702.9 m²) of land around Lawson Park is being returned to productive use as a smallholding, and the gardens, designed by artist & film-maker Karen Guthrie, are open to the public in summer under the National Garden Scheme.
(Barrow-in-Furness
) in the 13th century, when it was used as a base for charcoal-burning. After deforestation of the surrounding land in the late medieval period, the farm was used by a succession of tenant sheep-farmers. In the late 20th century Victorian polymath John Ruskin
- who lived in nearby Brantwood
- purchased the farmhouse and land. After Ruskin's death the farm was tenanted by various families until the Taylforth family ended farming in the 1950s. The buildings were used as a student hostel until the late 1980s.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
hillfarm, leased by Grizedale Arts
Grizedale Arts
Grizedale Arts is a contemporary arts residency and commissioning agency in the central Lake District in rural Northern England. It conducts cultural projects locally, nationally and internationally...
(a contemporary art commissioner) from the Forestry Commission
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....
. It is situated opposite the village of Coniston
Coniston
-Relating to Coniston, Cumbria, England:*Coniston, Cumbria, a village*Coniston Fells, a chain of hills and mountains in the Furness Fells, in the Lake District**Coniston Old Man , the highest peak in the Coniston Fells....
overlooking Coniston Water.
A major refurbishment by architects Sutherland Hussey in 2007/8/9 has seen the farm transformed into a residency and office base for Grizedale Arts. It now offers live/work residencies to contemporary artists and hosts events and conferences periodically. Grizedale Arts director Adam Sutherland has furnished the building with a notable collection of works by British designers and manufacturers from 1820 to the present day. Circa 15 acres (60,702.9 m²) of land around Lawson Park is being returned to productive use as a smallholding, and the gardens, designed by artist & film-maker Karen Guthrie, are open to the public in summer under the National Garden Scheme.
History
The farm was first recorded under the ownership of the Cistercian Furness AbbeyFurness Abbey
Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness is a former monastery situated on the outskirts of the English town of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the country, behind only Fountains Abbey in North...
(Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
) in the 13th century, when it was used as a base for charcoal-burning. After deforestation of the surrounding land in the late medieval period, the farm was used by a succession of tenant sheep-farmers. In the late 20th century Victorian polymath John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
- who lived in nearby Brantwood
Brantwood
Brantwood is a country house in Cumbria, England, overlooking Coniston Water. It has been the home of a number of prominent people, including John Ruskin. The house and grounds are administered by a charitable trust, the house being a museum dedicated to Ruskin...
- purchased the farmhouse and land. After Ruskin's death the farm was tenanted by various families until the Taylforth family ended farming in the 1950s. The buildings were used as a student hostel until the late 1980s.