Lowther Castle

 ( Official Website ) 

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

In 1878 he married Lady Gladys Herbert, a very famous socialite. She has been described as “one of the professional beauties, a select group of a half-dozen society ladies who like the super models of today were constantly talked about and whose portraits were on sale to the public. Everything about her seemed impressive. She was six feet tall and her dark eyes and brilliant colouring made any women near her look pale."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.

“Lady Gladys Herbert and Later Countess of Lonsdale was superbly beautiful, with brilliant colouring and the features and carriage of an ideal Roman Empress. We were great friends and at one time almost inseparable. I spent part of one summer with her at Lowther Castle soon after her first marriage and she met me at Carlisle Station with her pony car to drive me to the Castle. As we wisked through the Park and the impressive walls of Lowther loomed before us she intimated that the one thing she was most anxious for me to see was the emu strutting about the grass."Langtry, p. 69

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

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 Horse Show arena were decorated with a replica of the gardens at Lowther Castle.

During the First World War he helped to found the Blue Cross animal charity, where his chief role was as a recruitment officer of both men and horses. He had his own pals battalion called the Lonsdale battalion (11th Battalion, Border Regiment). The battalion was almost wiped out on the Somme.

After the war Hugh gave up hunting and became more involved with race horses. He became a senior steward of the Jockey Club. He had only one major win and that was the St Leger in 1922. He was rarely seen in the House of Lords.

Because of his extravagance he was forced to sell some of his inherited properties. In 1921 Whitehaven Castle was sold, and in 1926 Barleythorpe in Rutland. The same year the west Cumberland coal mines closed. In 1935 he left Lowther Castle because he could no longer afford to live there, and moved to much smaller accommodation. Grace died in 1941 and three years later in 1944 Hugh died, aged 87.

Hugh Lowther was the last resident of Lowther Castle. His brother Lancelot, the 6th Earl, inherited the estate in 1944; but because of Hugh's large debts he was forced to sell many of the family's treasures. A large auction sale was held in 1947. Lancelot died in 1953 and was succeeded by James, his grandson.

James wished to develop the estates, and concentrated on farming. He saw Lowther Castle as an extravagance. After he returned from World War II, he said “it was a place that exemplified gross imperial decadence during a period of abject poverty". The army had damaged the grounds and buildings during the war, and the castle had been empty for many years. James offered the castle as a gift to three local authorities, but all refused. At that time the only options for large country houses were to open them to the public or to demolish them. Faced with £25 million in death duties, he could not afford the former, so he decided to remove the roof and demolish much of the stonework. "Just the façade and outer walls remained", according to the castle's owner.

The forecourt became pig pens; and the concrete on the south lawns that the army had laid he used as a base for a broiler chicken factory. The remainder of the gardens was used as a timber plantation, with Sitka spruce trees.

Significant improvements have been achieved since then. After the death of Lord Lonsdale in 2006, the chicken-broiler unit and the trees were removed. With a great deal of funding from various sources, some garden restoration was done and a restoration of the castle shell and the full reinstatement and conversion of the stables was also completed.

After an initial £9 million consolidation, the castle and some gardens opened for public visits in 2011, for the first time since 1938; other garden areas were still overgrown at that time.

In 2016, the Lowther family again began to manage the property in advance of the official reopening for the 2017 season. In March 2016 the property was sub-leased to Lowther Castle Limited, a non-charitable company formed to manage the activities undertaken at the Castle and Gardens. In summer 2016, The Lost Castle, the largest wooden playground in the country, was opened at Lowther Castle. The hand-built playground is made from 11 miles of sustainably sourced timber.

A report in October 2018 summarised the situation at that time as follows: "The part-demolished castle shell and the wrecked garden have been resurrected with impressive energy and conviction. Lowther is now once again one of the leading showplaces of Cumbria". In the same year, the property was cited as the Large Visitor Attraction of the Year 2018 in the Cumbria Tourism Awards.

Developments in the gardens continue. Work on the 130-acre garden was continuing in mid-2019, based on plans by Patrick James and Dominic Cole, under the guidance of designer Dan Pearson and the castle's current owner Jim Lowther (son of the 7th Earl of Lonsdale).

One of the projects is the Garden in the Ruin, a new phase after the 2015 plantings, including Hydrangea aspera and Parthenocissus henryana. The new Rose Garden had already received 1,250 eglantine roses, underplanted with brunnera, Galium odoratum and Chaero-phylum hirsutum Roseum; in spring 2019, 6,000 perennials were added, white Geranium macrorrhizum White-Ness, Calamintha sylvatica Menthe and Brunnera macrophylla Betty Bowring and Narcissus poeticus and Camassia leichtlinii alba.

In late 2019, an additional 2,255 David Austin roses were to be planted. Future phases will include the addition of Japanese plants in The Japanese Garden and the conversion of the Scented Garden to Katsura Grove. The area around an old summer house to the west of the garden will be planted with honeysuckle, roses and bulbs. The modified gardens were planned to open to visitors in spring 2020. In June 2022, Andrea Brunsendorf was appointed head gardener, Giles Brown, New head gardener for Lowther Castle. Cumbriacrack, 17/05/2022

• Askham, Cumbria

• Ann Blainey (2025). 9781863953672, Black Inc, Melbourne. ISBN 9781863953672
• Roger Collins (1999). 9780906030356, Garton and Co. ISBN 9780906030356
• Lillian Langtry (2025). 9781886571136, Panoply Publications, North Hollywood. ISBN 9781886571136
• Douglas Sutherland (1966). 9781910723036, Cassel and Company, London. ISBN 9781910723036

• Kendal Calling
• July 2003 BBC story on the restoration plans
• Heritage and History - Pictures from the first open day for over 70 years