Lowther Hall

Description

The medieval manor house of the Lowther family consisted of a peel of three storeys on the east, a hall, great chamber and at the west end a tower built in the 1570s. Between 1628 and 1664 it was transformed by rebuilding and extensions by Sir John Lowther and his son and Alexander Pogmire. Except for the wings, the old house was demolished in 1692 and a new mansion in red sandstone was erected by Edward Addison. The upper storey and most of the east or chapel wing was destroyed by fire in 1718. Small additions were made in 1802 by adding new kitchens and offices. The present house of picturesque composition with turrets and central tower was built, but unfinished, in 1806-14 by Robert Smirke incorporating the surviving C17 wings and kitchen block of 1802. The house was closed in 1935, the roofs were removed and the interior gutted in 1957. (PastScape–ref. Port)

Lowther Castle, 750 yards S.S.E. of the church, is largely a modern building. A house was built on the site by Sir John Lowther about the middle of the 17th century and was largely re-built in 1685. This house was burnt in 1720 and the present castle built in 1808. Of the 17th-century building portions survive in lower walls of the kitchen-wing and two rectangular blocks immediately to the N. of it. The old parts of the kitchen-wing are ashlar-faced but the other blocks are of rubble. In the basement of the main N. range are some 17th-century doorways, probably re-set. In the grounds is a large number of worked and moulded stones from Shap Abbey and other buildings in the neighbourhood. There is also the bowl of a font, dated 1679 and a portion of a cross-shaft (9 in. by 5 in.) with a running vine-scroll, probably of the 9th century. Inside the house are two 8th-century cross-shafts (Plate 6), possibly from Lowther church, one has vine-scrolls of the same type as Heversham, the other has beasts in a vine-scroll, long-beaked ribbon animals and two designs of vine-scroll.
Condition—Good. (RCHME 1936)