| Underscar Manor | |
|---|---|
| Underscar House | |
 Underscar Manor in 1987 | |
| Location | Gale Road, Underskiddaw, Cumbria, England |
| Coordinates | 54°37′15″N3°07′54″W / 54.6208°N 3.1316°W |
| Built | 1856–63 |
| Built for | William Oxley |
| Architect | Charles Verelst |
| Architectural style(s) | Italianate |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Designated | 24 February 2000 |
| Reference no. | 1380116 |
  Location in Cumbria | |
Underscar Manor is a country house at Underskiddaw in Cumbria. It is a Grade II listed building. [1]
The house was designed by Charles Verelst for William Oxley, a Liverpool textile merchant, and was built in the Italianate style between 1856 and 1863. [1] It came into the ownership of James Tait Black, a partner in the publishers A & C Black, in the early 20th century. [2] [3]
The house was converted for use as a hotel in the 1970s. [4] It was acquired by Derek and Pauline Harrison and their business partner Gordon Evans in 1990; customers included Jonathan Dimbleby, the broadcaster, and John Swannell, the photographer. [5] The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the house in October 2008. [6]
The house became a private home again when it was acquired by Alexander Mineev, a Russian oligarch, in 2010. [7] Following Mineev's murder in Moscow in February 2014, the house was bought by Jonathan Brown, owner of a Maryport-based salmon smoking business, in August 2014. [7]
William Oxley (1803-1871) who built Underscar was born in 1803 in Wakefield. His father was John Oxley, a merchant of Wakefield and his mother was Margaret Potter, daughter of Samuel Potter Esq. of Whitehaven who was a banker. [8] He moved to Liverpool and became a very successful merchant. In 1830 he married Hope Stewart the daughter of John Stewart of Blackburne Terrace. [9] In the following year the couple had a son John Stewart Oxley and shortly after his birth his wife Hope died. [10] In 1838 he married Anna Margaret Ponsonby who was the daughter of Captain John Ponsonby of Springfield near Whitehaven. [11] The Captain later lived at Barrow House and Ormathwaite House near Keswick. [12]
In 1857 William commissioned the famous architect Charles Reid to build the house. It took three and a half years to complete. He also hired the well-known landscape architect Edward Kemp to construct the gardens. Kemp described the house and garden in detail in a book he wrote. [13]
A description of the new house was given in a newspaper of 1861. It read.
William died in 1871 and his wife Anna continued to live at the house until several years before her death in 1890. The local newspaper published a glowing obituary of her which can be read at this reference. [15]
Cumbria is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Carlisle.
Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumberland, Cumbria, England. It lies by road 38 miles (61 km) south-west of Carlisle and 45 miles (72 km) to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It was the administrative seat of the former Borough of Copeland, and has a town council for the parish of Whitehaven. The population of the town was 23,986 at the 2011 census.
Keswick is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority of Cumbria, England. Historically, until 1974, it was part of the county of Cumberland. It lies within the Lake District National Park, Keswick is just north of Derwentwater and is four miles from Bassenthwaite Lake. It had a population of 5,243 at the 2011 census.
The Coast to Coast or Sea to Sea Cycle Route (C2C) is a 140 miles (230 km) cycle route opened in 1994. Combining sections of National Cycle Route 7, 14, 71 and 72; it runs from Whitehaven or Workington on the west coast of Cumbria, and then crosses the Lake District and the Pennines in the north of England by using a variety of both on and off-road trails, ending on the north-east coast in Tyne and Wear at Sunderland or Tynemouth. Sustrans state that it is the UK's most popular challenge cycle route, it is designed for the whole range of cyclists, from families to cycling club riders. Although a challenge with some hard climbs—the highest point being over 609 m (1,998 ft)—the C2C is completed by an average of between 12,800 and 15,000 cyclists every year.
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The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway (CK&PR) was an English railway company incorporated by Act of Parliament on 1 August 1861, to build a line connecting the town of Cockermouth with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) West Coast Main Line at Penrith. Arrangements for the use of the stations at either end were included. Passenger and goods traffic was worked by the LNWR and mineral traffic by the North Eastern Railway, both of whom had shares in the company. The line was 31+1⁄2 miles (50.7 km) in length, and had eight intermediate stations.
Copeland is a constituency in Cumbria created in 1983 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The constituency is represented in Parliament by Trudy Harrison, of the Conservative Party, since a by-election in February 2017. It was retained at the snap 2017 general election four months later. The seat had been held by Labour candidates at elections between 1983 and 2015 included.
Egremont is a market town, civil parish and two electoral wards in Cumbria, England, and historically part of Cumberland. It is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, five miles south of Whitehaven and on the River Ehen.
Greysouthen is a village and civil parish between the towns of Workington and Cockermouth, in Cumbria, North West England, historically part of Cumberland, near the Lake District National Park. The village has an historic association with coal mining.
The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the high sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct, so that its functions are now largely ceremonial. The high sheriff changes every April.
The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct so that its functions are now largely ceremonial. The sheriff changes every April.
Ponsonby is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Copeland of the county of Cumbria, England. Ponsonby has a church which was constructed in 1840 and had further additions in 1874. Ponsonby is located along and just off the A595. It has a population of 205 according to the 2011 Census Data.
Revd Frederic Myers was a Church of England clergyman and author.
Edderside is a hamlet in the civil parish of Holme St. Cuthbert in Cumbria, United Kingdom. It is located approximately one mile as the crow files to the south-east of Mawbray, or two-and-a-half miles by road, and a similar distance east of Salta, and north-east of Allonby. The small hamlet of Jericho is located less than a mile to the north-east. Approximately 23 miles to the north-east is the city of Carlisle. Allonby Bay, an inlet of the Solway Firth, is one-and-a-half miles to the south-west, as is the B5300 coast road which runs between Silloth-on-Solway, six-and-a-half miles to the north, and Maryport, six miles to the south.
Rothay Manor is a country house near Ambleside in Cumbria. It is a Grade II listed building.
St Thomas Cross Platform was a railway station used by workmen's trains on the Moor Row to Sellafield line on what is now the southeastern, Cringlethwaite, edge of Egremont, Cumbria, England.
Parton Halt railway station was opened by the LNWR and FR Joint Railway in January 1915 and closed by the LMSR fourteen years later in 1929.
The Cumbria Rugby Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the county of Cumbria in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Cumbria, and administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in the county. It also administers the Cumbria rugby representative teams.
The Lakeland Book of the Year, also known as the Hunter Davies Lakeland Book of the Year is an award given annually for a book "set in or featuring Cumbria in some way", and is named for the Lake District of north west England. It was founded by writer Hunter Davies in 1984 and is administered by Cumbria Tourism. Davies was one of the judges from 1984 to 2022. In 2023, following Davies's retirement from the role, the judges were Fiona Armstrong, Eric Robson, Michael McGregor, director of Wordsworth Grasmere, and "guest judge" Rachel Laverack from Cumbria County Council. The prizes are traditionally announced at a gala lunch in June, although in 2020 the proceedings took place online because of COVID-19.
underscar, the property of William Oxley.
