Rydal Hall is a large detached house on the outskirts of the village of Rydal, Cumbria, in the English Lake District. It has an early nineteenth-century front facade, but includes some earlier fabric.
The hall is Grade II* listed on the National Heritage List for England and its gardens are listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. [1] [2]
The terraces to the south of the hall and the barns and stables to the north and east are listed Grade II*. [3] [4] The summerhouse, game larder, and ice house in the grounds of the hall are all individually Grade II* listed. [5] [6] [7] The bridge over Rydal Beck is listed Grade II*. [8]
The house was built as the country seat of the Le Fleming baronets, and was sold with its gardens to the Diocese of Carlisle in 1970. The estate remained in the ownership of the Le Fleming family as of 1997. The house plays host to retreats, conferences and courses, and holiday accommodation. There is also the Old School Room Tea Shop, located on the "Coffin Route" footpath, which leads to Grasmere. [9]
The gardens are open to the public. In the mid-17th century, Sir Daniel Fleming (1633–1701) developed the landscape as an early Picturesque garden incorporating Rydal Beck and its natural waterfalls. 'The Grot' (a summerhouse designed for viewing a waterfall) became a major attraction for a succession of visiting artists and writers in the 18th and 19th century.
The formal gardens in front of the house were designed in 1909 by the garden designer and landscape architect Thomas Hayton Mawson (1861–1933). [10] Mawson's Italianate terraces are listed Grade II*. [3] These formal gardens were restored in 2005-7 by Tom Attwood. A community vegetable garden was created at the same time. [11] [12]
"The Grot" at Rydal Falls is described in William Wordsworth's early poem, "An Evening Walk", published in 1793. The poet moved to Rydal Mount, near Rydal Hall, in 1813 and it remained his home to his death in 1850. Towards the end of the poet's life his nephew Christopher Wordsworth went with him to "The Grot". The following is a description of their walk together from Rydal Mount.
"He accompanied me to the gate and then said if I had a few minutes longer to spare he would like to show me the waterfall which was close by – the lower fall of Rydal. I gladly assented and he led the way across the grounds of Lady Fleming (Rydal Hall) which were opposite to his own to a small summer-house. The moment we opened the door the waterfall was before us. The summer house being so placed as to occupy the exact spot from which it was to be seen. The rocks and shrubbery around closing it in on every side. The effect was magical. The view from the rustic house, the rocky basin into which the water fell and the deep shade in which the whole was enveloped, made it a lovely scene. Wordsworth seemed to have much pleasure in exhibiting this beautiful retreat." [13]
Rydal Hall participates annually in "Wordsworth's Daffodil Legacy", an initiative of the National Gardens Scheme, as does the National Trust property Dora's Field. [14] This is a special opening to raise monies for charity: normally visitors are invited to make a donation to the upkeep of the gardens.
Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head of Windermere, England's largest natural lake. In the Lake District National Park, it is south of the highest road pass in the Lake District, Kirkstone Pass and both places are the meeting point of well-marked paths and mountain hiking trails. In 2020 it had an estimated population of 2596. In 1961 the parish had a population of 2562.
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is one of his most popular, and was inspired by a forest encounter on 15 April 1802 between he, his younger sister Dorothy and a "long belt" of daffodils. Written in 1804, it was first published in 1807 in Poems, in Two Volumes, and as a revision in 1815.
Grasmere is a village and tourist destination in Cumbria, England, in the centre of the Lake District, named after its adjacent lake. Grasmere lies within the historic county of Westmorland. In 1961, the civil parish had a population of 1,029. The Ambleside and Grasmere ward was 4,475 in the 2011 census and estimated at 4,592 in 2019. The Lake Poets: William and Dorothy Wordsworth lived in Grasmere for 14 years and called it "the loveliest spot that man hath ever found."
Wimpole Estate is a large estate containing Wimpole Hall, a country house located within the civil parish of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, England, about 8+1⁄2 miles southwest of Cambridge. The house, begun in 1640, and its 3,000 acres (12 km2) of parkland and farmland are owned by the National Trust. The estate is regularly open to the public and received over 335,000 visitors in 2019. Wimpole is the largest house in Cambridgeshire.
Rydal Mount is a house in the small village of Rydal, near Ambleside in the English Lake District. It is best known as the home of the poet William Wordsworth from 1813 to his death in 1850. It is currently operated as a writer's home museum.
The Rothay is a spate river of the Lake District in north-west England. Its name comes from Old Norse and translates literally as the red one. This has come to mean trout river. It rises close to Rough Crag above Dunmail Raise at a point about 1542 feet above sea level. Its catchment area covers Grasmere Common including Easedale Tarn, the southern flanks of Fairfield, and several of the fells to the east of Dunmail Raise, including Great Rigg, Rydal Fell, Scandale Fell and Heron Pike.
The Wordsworth Trust is an independent charity in the United Kingdom. It celebrates the life of the poet William Wordsworth, and looks after Dove Cottage in the Lake District village of Grasmere where Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth lived between 1799 and 1808. It also looks after the majority of the surrounding properties in the conservation area of Town End, and a collection of manuscripts, books and fine art relating to Wordsworth and other writers and artists of the Romantic period. In 2020 it introduced the brand name Wordsworth Grasmere.
Holker Hall is a privately owned country house located about 2 km to the southwest of the village of Cartmel in the ceremonial county of Cumbria and historic county of Lancashire, England. It is "the grandest [building] of its date in Lancashire ...by the best architects then living in the county." The building dates from the 16th century, with alterations, additions, and rebuilding in the 18th and 19th centuries. The 19th century rebuilding was by George Webster in Jacobean Revival style and subsequent renovations were by E. G. Paley. Hubert Austin had a joint practice with Paley by the 1870s and they both rebuilt the west wing after it was destroyed by a major fire in 1871, only a decade after Paley's previous work on the structure. The fire also destroyed a number of notable artworks. Holker Hall is Paley and Austin's "most important country house commission." The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner expressed the opinion that the west wing is the "outstanding domestic work" of Paley and Austin. In 1970 the hall itself, together with its terrace wall, were designated Grade II* Listed buildings. The house stands in an estate of about 80 hectares, and is surrounded by formal gardens, parkland and woodland. Within the grounds are six structures listed at Grade II.
Wordsworth House is a Georgian townhouse situated in Cockermouth, Cumbria, England, and in the ownership of the National Trust. It was built in the mid-18th century. William Wordsworth was born in the house in 1770. The house is a Grade I listed building. It is open to the public as a writer's house museum from March to October each year.
Thomas Hayton Mawson, known as T. H. Mawson, was a British garden designer, landscape architect, and town planner.
Dove Cottage is a house on the edge of Grasmere in the Lake District of England. It is best known as the home of the poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth from December 1799 to May 1808, where they spent over eight years of "plain living, but high thinking". During this period, William wrote much of the poetry for which he is remembered today, including his "Ode: Intimations of Immortality", "Ode to Duty", "My Heart Leaps Up" and "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", together with parts of his autobiographical epic, The Prelude.
Graythwaite Hall, near Hawkshead, Cumbria in the Lake District of England is the home of the Sandys family.
Tirley Garth is a large country house some 2.5 miles (4 km) to the north of Tarporley, Cheshire, England. The house together with its entrance courtyard walls are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
St Oswald's Church is in the village of Grasmere, in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Windermere, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. As well as its architectural interest, the church is notable for its associations with the poet, William Wordsworth and his family, and for its annual ceremony of rushbearing.
Greta Hall is a house in Keswick in the Lake District of England. It is best known as the home of the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey.
Cowmire Hall is a country house near Crosthwaite in Cumbria, England. The hall, the garden wall and gate piers are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
Lakes is a civil parish in the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England. It contains 214 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, six are listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, 20 are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. Lakes is a large parish in the Lake District National Park containing the villages of Ambleside, Troutbeck, Rydal, Grasmere, Elterwater, and Chapel Stile, and the valleys of Great Langdale and Little Langdale. Otherwise the parish is rural, including countryside, hills and mountains. Many of the listed buildings are concentrated in the villages, with many dating from the 17th century, and others are scattered in the valleys. Most of the listed buildings are houses and associated structures, shops, farmhouses, farm buildings, bridges, public houses and hotels, and churches with items in the churchyards. Other listed buildings include a former Roman fort, an aqueduct, an AA telephone box, a market cross, and two war memorials.
Allan Bank is a grade II listed two-storey villa standing on high ground slightly to the west of Grasmere village in the heart of the Lake District. It is best known for being from 1808 to 1811 the home of William Wordsworth, but it was also occupied at various times by Dorothy Wordsworth, Dora Wordsworth, Thomas De Quincey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Arnold, Matthew Arnold and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley. It is now owned by the National Trust and is open to the public.
St Mary's Church is in the village of Rydal in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Windermere, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. The church, built in the Gothic revival style, is situated off the A591 road between Ambleside and Grasmere and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
Fox Ghyll or Foxghyll, earlier Fox Gill, is a historic house near Ambleside in Cumbria, England, and is a Grade II listed building. It is a Regency building which seems to have been added to a much older house that was on the site. It was the home of many notable people including Thomas De Quincey over the next two centuries.