Looking splendid against the beautiful blue sky we had on Thursday. A lot of work has been done in stabilising the masonry of this wonderful castle, which had it's roof removed as the family could not afford the up keep and taxes.There is also a lot of work still going on as nothing had been done for approx. 70 years in the grounds.They have unearthed all the 'foundations' of the original formal gardens which had been taken over by wilderness and trees. During the war it was commissioned by the ministry and a lot of the lawns were laid down to concrete and secret testings of tanks and such like were carried out here. It has had quite a colourful history,with the best known Earl being the Yellow Earl, Hugh Lowther who became the 5th Earl of Lonsdale in 1882. Those of you who follow boxing my well have hear of the Lonsdale belt, this was originally given by The Yellow Earl. He was well known for his love of the colour and his carriages were bright Yellow, he had his regiment of yellow-liveried servants. He had his fleet of yellow motor-cars, and his pack of yellow dogs, and a hot-house to grow yellow gardenias for his buttonhole. He was a founder and first President of the Automobile Association (AA) which adopted his livery.
High profile affairs with the actresses Lillie Langtree, and Violet Cameron led to him being advised by Queen Victoria to leave the country until the scandal died down.
I only wish I could have seen the castle at it's best.
Well I learnt a lot from your photo Shirley. I never knew all that despite living not too far away from the castle. The only time I ever went to the Lowther estate was to take one son to a music festival once a good few years ago, I remember he was sick!
@josiegilbert@happypat@hermann@terryliv@gilbertwood@peterlgrave Thank you all for taking an interest in my project and leaving such lovely comments. At one point in the history of this lovely castle The Earl of the time sold the castle to his son for £1 before he died. My thoughts are it was quite a clever move because once the son bought it, he owned it and therefore would have no inheritance tax to pay upon the death of his father. I may be wrong in my thinking but if not it was a very forward thinking move.
