Lowther Castle is a ruined country house in Lowther, Cumbria, England. The estate has belonged to the Lowther family, latterly the earls of Lonsdale, since the Middle Ages. The house was largely built between 1806 and 1814 for William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale and designed by Robert Smirke in his first major commission. It incorporates fragments of the previous house on the site, which was completed in 1685 for John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale. It is open to the public and is a grade II* listed building.
The house takes the form of a sham castle, and was known as Lowther Hall before the 1806 rebuilding. It consists of a nine-bay central block with angle turrets, a porte-cochère on the entrance front, and a larger tower in the centre, which is linked by low wings to angle pavilions; the whole building is embattled. The windows are a mixture of Gothic pointed arches and flat-topped in the Tudor style. There is a service wing to the east. In front of the house is a large forecourt enclosed a battlemented wall containing several turrets and a gatehouse. The house was closed by the Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale in 1935 and partly used as a tank training range during World War II. The contents were sold in 1947 and the roof removed in 1957.
The castle is owned by the Lowther estate and leased by the Lowther Castle and Gardens Trust, which in turn sub-leases the castle back to the estate. The wider estate is currently undergoing rewilding.
History
The original settlement at the site was founded in 1120 by Dolfin de Lowther, a nobleman descended from Danelaw Viking conquerors.
Francis Knollys escorted Mary, Queen of Scots to Lowther Hall (as the house was then known) on 13 July 1568 on her way to Wharton Hall and Bolton Castle.Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 456-7.
William and Augusta Lowther, 1st Earl and Countess of Lonsdale
William Lowther was born in 1757, and he was about 52 years old when he built Lowther Castle. He was the eldest son of Reverend Sir William Lowther and Anne Zouch. He was educated at Cambridge University, and in 1780 at the age of 23 he became a Member of Parliament. A year later he married Lady Augusta Fane, the daughter of John 9th Earl of Westmorland. He was an MP for 22 years until 1802, when he inherited the estates from his cousin Sir James Lowther.
Sir James Lowther had a rather disreputable history. He incurred a large debt to the father of William Wordsworth and refused to pay it despite numerous requests from the family. When Sir James Lowther died in 1802 and William inherited his fortune he immediately refunded the money to the Wordsworth family with interest. He also befriended William Wordsworth and assisted him financially. Wordsworth frequently stayed at Lowther Castle; many of his published letters are written from there.
Wordsworth wrote several poems for William. Part of his verse about Lowther Castle is as follows:
"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 kept an album in which some of the poets visiting Lowther Castle wrote verse. Wordsworth wrote a long poem in her honour in the album; it has been included in his published works.
Robert Southey, another famous poet, was also a frequent visitor at the castle and he too wrote in Lady Lonsdale's album. A verse he composed about Lowther Castle is as follows:
"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 these was J. M. W. Turner. He painted the recently acquired work called “Lowther Castle – Evening” which hangs in the Bowes Museum. William also became the patron to Jacob Thompson who painted his portrait which is shown above.
George Macartney, when visiting the summer retreat of the Chinese emperor in Chengde 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.”Travels in China
In 1839 Mrs Harriette Story Paige visited Lowther Castle with Daniel Webster, a famous American politician. A detailed account of her experiences were given in her diary, in which she noted that:Story Paige, p. 216-234
"We reached Lowther just at the hour of lunch, contrary to the English etiquette, which usually establishes the time for arriving, an hour or two only, before dinner, when at the announcement of that meal, the guests meet, for the first time. The Castle bell was rung, as we passed through the arched stone gateway, after a drive through the noble parks."Story Paige, p. 217
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 was educated at Harrow School and Cambridge University and in 1808 he followed in his father's footsteps and became a politician. He was an MP for the next 33 years until 1841. In 1844, when his father died, he inherited the Lowther Estates. From 1842 until his death he gathered a remarkable collection of ancient works of art at Lowther Castle, composed of more than 100 pieces of Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek, and mostly Roman sculpture, whose selection reflected the spirit of the collections of the ‘Golden Age of Dilettantism’ during the Victorian era.
Lowther did not marry, but had several illegitimate children. Two of these inherited from him large sums of money on his death. One of these was a daughter, Frances (Fanny) Lowther, born in 1818 to the Paris Opera dancer Pierre-Narcisse Chaspoux. Narcisse later had a liaison with Charles Lewis Meryon and gave birth in 1821 to Charles Meryon, the French artist.Collins, p. 4-6 Frances Lowther later married the MP Henry Broadwood and had three children.
His other child who was given an inheritance was Francis William Lowther, a Royal Navy officer. He was born in 1841 to Emilia Cresotti, a singer in the Paris Opera.Collins, p. 263 William also appears to have had two other illegitimate daughters. One was Marie Caroline Lowther Saintfal, born in 1818 to Caroline Saintfal and registered in the Paris Baptisms. The other was to the famous French ballerina Lise Noblet, who wrote to him about their daughter.Collins, p. 268
William died in 1872. As he had no legitimate heirs, the Lowther Estates passed 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 Lonsdale Estates. He died only four years later after an attack of pneumonia. He therefore had little impact on the development of Lowther Castle.
Henry was born in 1818. He was the nephew of the 2nd Earl of Lonsdale and the eldest son of the Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther, the 2nd Earl's brother. His mother was Lady Lucy Sherard. He was educated at Westminster School and Cambridge University and in 1841 he joined the 1st Life Guards. He was also a Member of Parliament representing West Cumberland between 1847 and 1872.
In 1852 he married Emily Susan Caulfeild, the daughter of St George Caulfeild of Donamon Castle of Roscommon, Ireland. The couple had six children. When Henry died in 1878 the Lowther Estates were inherited by his son St George Lowther who became the 4th Earl of Lonsdale.
St George and Gladys, 4th Earl and Countess of Lonsdale
St George was born in 1855 and was only 23 when he inherited Lowther Castle. He had a passion for exploration and when he obtained his fortune he spent much of his time aboard his two steam yachts making long voyages to far parts of the world. He had a scientific interest in the sea, and his careful studies of the behaviour of the Gulf Stream were important enough to be published by the American Hydrological Department.Sutherland, p. 29In 1878, he married Lady Gladys Herbert, a prominent socialite. During that period, she and a small group of contemporary society women received widespread media attention and had their portraits made available to the public. Standing six feet tall, she was noted for her striking appearance. The marriage was unsuccessful, largely due to St George's frequent travels and Gladys's involvement in a social circle that he did not approve of"Blainey, p. 86
The marriage was not considered to be a success, as St George was constantly away travelling and Gladys was caught up in a social set which did not meet with his approval. Gladys often entertained at Lowther Castle and one of her visitors was Lillie Langtry, who was said to be the mistress of King Edward VII. In her autobiography Langtry describes her stay at Lowther Castle as follows:
In 1882, at the age of twenty-six, St George died after a short illness which was followed by pneumonia. His younger brother Hugh Cecil Lowther inherited the castle.
In the 19th century, an East India Company ship HCS Lowther Castle, was named after the estate.Lowther Castle Ship's Medical Log at Syracuse University
Hugh and Grace Lowther, 5th Earl and Countess of Lonsdale
Hugh Cecil Lowther was born in 1857 and was only 25 when he inherited the castle. Being the second son of the Earl, he did not expect to be the manager of an estate, and so had not been appropriately educated. He was at Eton for only two years and left at the age of twelve, after which he spent his time playing sport.
In 1878, four years before obtaining his inheritance, Hugh married Lady Grace Gordon, third daughter of the Marquess of Huntly, who was three years his senior. Her family opposed the marriage, as Hugh was then not wealthy and seemed irresponsible. Their assessment of his character proved to be correct, as the following year he invested a great deal of money in cattle in America. The venture collapsed and the Lowther family was forced to save him.
The couple then lived near Oakham and Grace became pregnant but suffered a bad fall while hunting and lost the baby. After this she was unable to bear children and she remained a partial invalid for the rest of her life.
After he obtained his inheritance in 1882 Hugh indulged his many passions. He bought chestnut horses, carriages and many other extravagances. He had yellow-liveried footmen, a groom of the bedchamber, a chamberlain and a master of music to supervise the 24 musicians who travelled from house to house. His household travelled in a special train. Hugh declared that because of his childlessness he was the last of the Lowthers. This ignored the rights of his younger brother Lancelot, who was to inherit the vastly depleted estate.
In August 1895 the Kaiser visited Lowther Castle for some grouse shooting, and the imperial flag flew over the house. The kings of Italy and Portugal later came to stay, and the Kaiser a second time in 1902. The Kaiser gave Lonsdale the order of the Prussian crown (first class) and a Mercedes. Hugh's fondness for cars made him the first President of the Automobile Association. He was also the first president of the International Horse Show at Olympia. In 1920 the walls of the Horse Show arena were decorated with a replica of the gardens at Lowther Castle.