Langdale Chase, Windermere is a house of historical significance and is listed on the English Heritage Register. [1] It consists of six acres of landscaped gardens sloping from the Langdale Chase Hotel to the shore of Windermere in Cumbria, in the Lake District of northwest England.
The house was designed by J.L. Ball, J.T. Lee, and Pattinson of Manchester and built as a private house in the late 19th century for Edna Howarth, the wife of a wealthy Manchester businessman. [2] The gardens were planned and laid out by Thomas Hayton Mawson, a landscape architect of international distinction, who was also responsible for the gardens at the Peace Palace in The Hague. [3] Following the death of Edna Howarth the house was acquired by the Willows family in 1914 and it then came into the ownership of the Dalzell family in 1930: they converted it into a hotel. [2]
Edna Howarth (1848-1914) built Langdale Chase in 1891. She was born Edna Stopford in 1848 and was the daughter of Alfred Stopford who owned Stopford's Brewery Company in Manchester. [4] In 1869 she married Thomas Howard Scott [5] (1842-1875) of the firm Scott Brothers Wire Rope Works in Nutsford Vale. The couple had one child Lily Howard Scott (1870-1917) who later in life inherited a very large income. Thomas died in 1875 [6] at the age of only 33 and Edna remarried in 1882 George Howarth (1846-1889) a businessman from Manchester. They lived at Heath House in Stretford. However he died in 1889 in Austria while they were touring the Continent. [7]
Shortly before he died George bought the Langdale Chase estate with the intention of building a small house as a summer residence. [8] However after his death Edna decided to build a much larger house which took three years to complete. In 1891 a newspaper gave a description of the house which was nearing completion. They said.
Edna lived in the house with a staff of sixteen – eight indoor servants and eight caring for the gardens, carriages and boats. One of her helpers was Emma Bertha Jones (1865-1937), a maiden lady from Canada who lived there as her companion for 22 years. In her will Edna left Emma 750 pounds and her five diamond hoop rings. [10] Edna’s daughter Lily married George Arthur Lorriman in 1891 and in 1892 they had a daughter named Lily Edna Lorriman (1892-1967). It was to her granddaughter that Edna left Langdale Chase when she died in 1914. [11] Soon after her death the house was sold to the Willow family.
John Bouch Willows (1850-1924) who bought the house was born in Kingston upon Hull in 1850. His father was John Green Wills Willows founder of the large seed oil manufacturers Messrs Willows Holt and Willows in Hull. John entered the family firm and later became a partner. When the firm merged in to British Oil and Cake Company he became a Director of this firm.
In 1878 he married Roberta Ann Dolphin Watts who was the daughter of John Edmund Watts, a lawyer from Edgbaston, Warwickshire. The couple had two children, a son and a daughter. The family lived in Hull for many years and then after John retired they moved to Scarborough. They then purchased Langdale Chase. He took a considerable interest in the fine arts and also music and drama. [12]
He died in 1924 and his wife Roberta continued to live at the house until her death in 1929. It was sold soon after her death and bought by the Dalzell family.
Gertrude Annie Dalzell (1881-1954) and her daughter Dorothy Gertrude Dalzell (1907-1995) bought the house and converted it to a hotel. Gertrude was born Gertrude Annie Paitson in 1881. Her father was John Lawrence Paitson, a solicitor from Whitehaven. [13] In 1904 she married Joseph Dalzell a director of several brewing companies. [14] He died in 1913 at the age of only 39 leaving his wife Gertrude with two young children, a daughter and a son.
Her son John Lawrence Dalzell entered the army and by 1932 had been promoted to Lieutenant. [15] Gertrude and her daughter Dorothy ran the Langdale Chase Hotel from 1930 until 1954 when Gertrude died. Dorothy then became the sole proprietor and operated the hotel until 1974. She then sold it to the Schaefer family, who ran it as a country house hotel until 2017 when it was acquired by Daniel Thwaites. [16]
Samlesbury Hall is a historic house in Samlesbury, Lancashire, England, six miles (10 km) east of Preston. It was built in 1325 by Gilbert de Southworth, and was the primary home of the Southworth family until the early 17th century.
Manchester Oxford Road railway station is a railway station in Manchester, England, at the junction of Whitworth Street West and Oxford Street. It opened in 1849 and was rebuilt in 1960. It is the third busiest of the four stations in Manchester city centre.
Fallowfield is a bustling area of Manchester with a population of 14,869 at the 2021 census. Historically in Lancashire, it lies 3 miles (5 km) south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilbraham Road and north–south by Wilmslow Road. The former Fallowfield Loop railway line, now a shared use path, follows a route nearly parallel with the east–west main road.
Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Cumberland district in Cumbria and the English Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a number of fells; for instance, Armboth Fell and Raven Crag both of which give views of the lake and of Helvellyn beyond.
Hindley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. It is three miles (4.8 km) east of Wigan and covers an area of 2,580 acres (1,044 ha). Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Hindley borders the towns and villages of Ince-in-Makerfield, Aspull, Westhoughton, Atherton and Westleigh in the former borough of Leigh. In 2001, Hindley had a population of 23,457, increasing to 28,000 at the 2011 Census. It forms part of the wider Greater Manchester Urban Area.
Deansgate is a railway station in Manchester city centre, England; it is located 1,100 yards (1 km) west of Manchester Piccadilly, close to Castlefield at the junction of Deansgate and Whitworth Street West. It is part of the Manchester station group.
John Aubrey Conway Howarth was an English stage, radio and television actor, best remembered for his role as grumpy but likeable elderly war veteran Albert Tatlock in the TV series Coronation Street between 1960 and 1984, in which he was an original cast member. Prior to his work with Coronation Street, he had a lengthy career in theatre, and in the radio soap opera Mrs. Dale's Diary.
Hornby Castle is a country house, developed from a medieval castle, standing to the east of the village of Hornby in the Lune Valley, Lancashire, England. It occupies a position overlooking the village in a curve of the River Wenning. The house is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
James Valentine, also known by the nickname of "Jim Val", was an English rugby union, and semi-professional Northern Union footballer who played in the 1880s, 1890s and 1900s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for England and Lancashire, and at club level for Swinton, as a centre and club level rugby league (RL) for Swinton, as a forward. Prior to 2 June 1896, Swinton was a rugby union club.
William Edward Armytage Axon was an English librarian, antiquary and journalist for the Manchester Guardian. He contributed to the Dictionary of National Biography under his initials W. E. A. A. He was also a notable vegetarianism activist.
Debden House is a conference centre and campsite located in Loughton, Essex, England. The house is owned and operated by Newham London Borough Council.
Wennington Hall is a former country house in Wennington, a village in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. The house is a Grade II listed building and from 1940 until 2022 was used as a school, at first by the Quaker boarding school Wennington School before its move to Yorkshire, then by Lancashire County Council.
Walter Carroll was an English composer, music lecturer and author. He was born at 156 Great Ducie Street in the Cheetham district of Manchester.
Jean Aylwin, also known as Jean Isabella Griffin Aitkin, was a Scottish actress and singer, often billed as "The Lady Harry Lauder".
St John's Church, Manchester, also known as St John's, Deansgate, was an Anglican parish church in Manchester, England, established in 1769 and demolished in 1931. Its site is now that of St John's Gardens, situated between Lower Byrom Street, Byrom Street and Quay Street.
Walter Whitehead, FRCSE, FRSE, was a surgeon at various hospitals in Manchester, England, and held the chair of Clinical Surgery at the Victoria University of Manchester. He was president of the British Medical Association in 1902. He once claimed that knowledge of anatomy was an impediment to being a good surgeon but was himself a bold, innovative practitioner of international repute. His procedure for excision of the tongue using scissors and his formulation of a related ointment became a standard treatment, as did a procedure he developed for the treatment of haemorrhoids.
SS Staveley was a passenger and freight vessel built for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1891.
Hartsfield Manor is an early Victorian house of historical significance located in Betchworth, Surrey, England. It was built in the 1860s as a private residence and served this purpose for several notable people until World War II. After this it became a hotel and then a training centre. It is now a venue for special events such as conferences and weddings.
John Morgan Cobbett was a Conservative Party and Liberal Party politician.
Maud Rachel Boyd was an English actress and singer known for musical theatre and principal boy roles in pantomime.
Langdale Chase Hotel website 54°24′22″N2°56′46″W / 54.406°N 2.946°W