CUMBRIA |
| Appleby Castle Conservation Centre |
In Appleby, near town centre |
The Norman builder of Appleby's frowning keep would
have been amazed at some of the livestock that now grazed below its lofty walls. He would
probably have been familiar with the White Park cattle, brought to England by the Romans,
and perhaps with Soay sheep, which may have been here since the Stone Age. But he would
never have seen the Bagot goat, brought back from the Crusades, or the the Vietnamese
pot-bellied pig. These are just a few of the threatened species kept at Appleby, a Rare
Breeds Survival Trust Centre. |
| Belle Isle |
In Windermere lake |
This wooded island, about 40 acres in extent, stretches
diagonally across Windermere opposite Bowness. Occupied by the Romans and the Norsemen,
and defended in the Civil War by a Royalist colonel against the Roundheads, for the last
200 years it has been famous for Belle Isle House, a complete circular country house built
in 1774. Belle Isle has given its name to a recently invented liqueur made of butterscotch
and whisky. A 'sight and sound' animated museum depicts below-stairs life on Belle Isle in
the 1920s. |
| Birdoswald Roman Fort |
Off B6318, 8 miles east of Brampton |
Birdoswald Fort (known to the Romans as Banna) covers 5
acres and would have been manned by a garrison of 300 cavalry or 500 foot soldiers. It
guards a Roman bridge over the River Irthing. Among the discoveries that have been made
there is a Roman 'arm purse' containing 28 silver denarii. The farmhouse on the site was
built largely of stones taken from the fort. An exhibition on site has displays of the
fort's history and the life of its garrison. |
| Brantwood |
Off B5285, 1.5 miles south-east of Coniston |
Built in 1797, Brantwood started out as little more
than a large cottage, but was added to by various 19th century owners and finally by John
Ruskin, who bought Brantwood for £1500 in 1872 and lived there until his death in 1900.
His study, dinning room and bedroom are much as he left them, full of artistic treasures
including many of his own drawings. A nature trail leads through the gardens. |
| Carlisle Castle |
On A595, near city centre |
The squat strength of the castle keep symbolises
Carlisle's turbulent history as a frontier town between the warring Scots and English. The
site was first fortified in 1092, while the keep and defensive walls were built in the
12th century. In the 16th century Henry VIII adapted the keep for the heavy guns of the
day. The later history of warfare is summed up in the Museum of the King's Own Royal
Border Regiment. More peaceful aspects can be studied in the City Museum and Art Gallery,
in Tullie House, a 17th century mansion. Stones from Hadrian's Wall, natural history and
geological diplays, toys and dolls, musical instruments and a collection of English
paintings are on show. The city's civic pride is displayed in the 15th century Guildhall,
now a museum of guild, local and civic history. |
| Furness Abbey |
Off A590, 1.5 miles north of Barrow-in-Furness |
Hidden away in a valley, the red-sandstone remains of
Furness Abbey are among the grandest monastic ruins in the north. Founded in 1123 by Count
Stephen (later King Stephen of England), it was during the Middle Ages second in
importance only to Fountains Abbey, in Yorkshire, among the Cistercian abbeys of England.
Enough of the abbey survives to give an idea of its scale. The dormitory was 200ft long,
and the refectory 150ft. A small chapel attached to the infirmary contains two 13th
century effigies of knights in armour, amoung the oldest of their type in this country. A
small exhibition gives a good introduction to monastic life at Furness. |
| Hardknott Roman Fort |
On minor road, 9 miles west of Ambleside |
Built to guard the access to the central lakes by way
of Eskdale, the Romans called it Mediobogdum, meaning 'in the middle of a bend in the
river' (the River Esk). Built at the same time as Hadrian's Wall, soon after AD 120, the
fort covers about 3 acres, and even after more than 1800 years is an impressive reminder
of the far-reaching might of Rome. Parts of the legionaries' kit have been discovered, in
the form of sandals and a large piece from a leather jerkin. |
| Holker Hall |
On B5278, 1 mile north of Flookburgh |
This stately home on the north side of Morecambe Bay,
is a mixture of 17th century, Georgian and Victorian styles, and was largely rebuilt after
a fire in 1871. The 7th Duke of Devonshire then commissioned two Lancaster architects to
design a new west wing in the Elizabethan style, and it is this part of the house that is
open to the public. Among Holker's exhibitions is the Lakeland Motor Museum. The
collection consists of vintage cars, motorcycles and bicycles, including a replica of Sir
Malcolm Campbell's record-breaking Bluebird. |
| Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway |
On A590, near Newby Bridge |
The 3.5 mile railway, restored to life and once more
powered by steam, runs from Lakeside, at the southern end of Windermere, to the village of
Haverthwaite, in the Leven Valley. It was originally part of a 7 mile branch line built by
the Furness Railway to carry passengers and coal for the Windermere steamers. The railway
closed in the 1960s, but the northern section was saved by a group of steam enthusiasts.
Rolling stock in operation consists of locomotives, mainly small tank engines, and
carriages, including the royal saloon of the Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra),
built in 1897. The 3.5 mile journey takes 18 minutes. |
| Levens Hall |
On A6, 5 miles south of Kendal |
For three centuries gardeners at Levens Hall have
tended an open-air museum of green sculpture. The garden was laid out around 1700 by
Guillaume Beaumont, a Frenchman who had been gardener to James II. The Hall itself is far
older, going back at least another 400 years, and has been considerably added to since
then. Inside it has Elizabethan plasterwork and elaborate carved panelling. The Charles II
furniture was acquired by Colonel James Grahme (or Graham), who is said to have accepted
Levens in settlement of a gambling debt. Today the brewhouse has been made into a display
area for a collection of working steam engines. |
| Muncaster Castle |
On A595, 0.5 miles east of Ravenglass |
The battlements of Muncaster face inland towards
Eskdale and Hardknott Pass, guarding one of the key routes to central Lakeland, while to
the west they look out over the Ravenglass estuary to the sea. This strategic position
made it a natural site for the peel tower that was built on the banks of the Esk in the
13th century, and which still survives embedded in the Victorian castle visible today. The
home of the Pennington family for 700 years, Muncaster is set in one of the finest
rhododendron gardens in Europe. Muncaster's greatest treasure is the so-called 'Luck of
Muncaster' - a glass bowl given to Sir John Pennington by the defeated Henry VI after the
Battle of Towton in 1461. Legend has it that as long as the bowl stays unbroken, the
family's good fortune will endure. The octagonal library contains 6000 books, and family
portraits. |
| Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry |
In Kendal, near town centre |
Housed in the stable block of Abbot Hall, the museum
was set up to save the last relics of traditional Lake District life from the inroads of
the modern world. It features the work of the blacksmith, wheelwright, brewer and printer,
a spinning and weaving display centred on a cottage weaver's loom, and implements and
historic photographs of the bygone farming scene. Abbot Hall, an 18th century mansion, is
now an art gallery and also contains a collection of 18th and 19th century furniture. On
the other side of town, Kendal's Museum of Archaeology and Natural History tells the story
of the people who have lived in Cumbria since the Stone Age. |
| Sizergh Castle |
Off A591, 3.5 miles south of Kendal |
Sizergh began life as a peel tower, built about 1350.
Owned by the Strickland family from 1239 until they gave it to the National Trust in 1950,
it still has the feel of a family home, being full of Strickland portraits and relics such
as a giant two-handed sword made about 1340. In the later Middle Ages, a typical medieval
hall house was added to the peel tower, and in Elizabethan times, two wings were built on,
giving the castle its present U-shape. |
| Townend |
Off A591, 3 miles north of Windermere |
For centuries, Lakeland farmers lived remote from the
outside world, self-sufficient in almost every respect. Townend gives a unique insight
into their lives over a stretch of 300 years. The stone house, with slate roof, was built
in the 1620s for the Browne family, prosperous yeoman farmers who lived there until the
1940s. The Brownes carved their own furniture, cured their own meat , and made their own
rushlights. The National Trust preserves the house as a time capsule of a vanished way of
life. |
| Wordsworth House |
At Cockermouth, in town centre |
The Georgian house was the birthplace of Lakeland's
greatest poet William Wordsworth in 1770. In 1939 it was given to the National Trust as a
permanent memorial to the poet. Nine rooms are furnished in 18th century style, with some
personal effects of the poet, and outside is Wordsworth's childhood garden, with a
terraced walk. Near the Market Place across the river is Cockermouth's Doll and Toy
Museum. |
