Lowther Castle
Encyclopedia
Westmorland
Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...
, which now forms part of the modern county of Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, England
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...
. It has belonged to the Lowther family, latterly the Earls of Lonsdale, since the Middle Ages.
History
In the late 17th century John Lowther, 1st Viscount LonsdaleJohn Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale
John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale, PC, FRS , known as Sir John Lowther, 2nd Baronet, from 1675 to 1696, was an English politician....
rebuilt the family home, then known as Lowther Hall, on a grand scale. The current building is a castellated mansion which was built by Robert Smirke
Robert Smirke (architect)
Sir Robert Smirke was an English architect, one of the leaders of Greek Revival architecture his best known building in that style is the British Museum, though he also designed using other architectural styles...
between 1806 and 1814, and it was only at that time that Lowther was designated a "castle". The family fortune was undermined by the extravagance of the 5th Earl of Lonsdale
Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale
Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, KG, GCVO was an English nobleman.-Biography:The second son of the 3rd Earl of Lonsdale, he succeeded his brother, the 4th Earl, in 1882. Lord Lonsdale was an avid sportsman and bon vivant and was known by some as "England's greatest sporting gentleman"...
, a famous socialite, and the castle was closed in 1937. During the Second World War, it was used by a tank regiment. Its contents were removed in the late 1940s and the roof was removed in 1957. The shell is still owned by the Lowther Estate Trust.
George Macartney
George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney
George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, KB was an Irish-born British statesman, colonial administrator and diplomat. He is often remembered for his observation following Britain's success in the Seven Years War and subsequent territorial expansion at the Treaty of Paris that Britain now controlled...
, when visiting the summer retreat of the Chinese emperor in Chengde
Chengde
Chengde , previously known as Jehol or Re He , is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, People's Republic of China, situated northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by the Qing emperors as summer residence...
in 1793, could compare the magnificence of what he saw only with Lowther Hall: If any place in England can be said in any respect to have similar features to the western park, which I have seen this day, it is Lowther Hall in Westmoreland, which (when I knew it many years ago) from the extent of prospect, the grand surrounding objects, the noble situation, the diversity of surface, the extensive woods, and command of water, I thought might be rendered by a man of sense, spirit, and taste, the finest scene in the British dominions.
In the 19th century, an East India Clipper ship, the H.M.S. Lowther Castle, was named after the estate.
Conservation
In 2000 the Lowther Estate and English HeritageEnglish Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
jointly commissioned a team of historians, landscapers, architects and engineers to review the status of the castle and its grounds, and they produced the Lowther Castle & Garden Conservation Plan. In 2005 the estate formed an informal partnership with the Northwest Development Agency, English Heritage, Cumbria Vision and the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
to regenerate the site. The objectives are to consolidate the ruin, restore the 50 acres (202,343 m²) garden and open the site to the public. Sheppard Robson RIBA
Riba
Riba means one of the senses of "usury" . Riba is forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence fiqh and considered as a major sin...
have been appointed as architects. The castle and 130 acres of grounds have been transferred to a charity called the Lowther Castle and Gardens Trust, and the site is due to open to the public on 22 April 2011. However the full restoration of the garden is expected to take 20 to 25 years.