Abbot's Wood (also Abbotswood) was a large

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

and estate located to the north-northeast of

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

, Cumbria, England. It was sited on elevated ground to the northeast of

Furness Abbey Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness, is a former Catholic monastery located to the north of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second-wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the coun ...

. The house was surrounded by extensive grounds with footpaths providing fine views.

History

The house was designed by the Lancaster architect

E. G. Paley Edward Graham Paley, usually known as E. G. Paley (3 September 1823 – 23 January 1895), was an English architect who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, in the second half of the 19th century. After leaving school in 1838, he went to La ...

, and built between 1857 and 1859 for

Sir James Ramsden Sir James Ramsden (25 February 1822 – 19 October 1896) was a British mechanical engineer, industrialist, and civic leader, who played a dominant role in the development of the new town of Barrow-in-Furness, in the historic county of La ...

. Ramsden was an industrialist who played a large part in running the

Furness Railway The Furness Railway (Furness) was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England. History Formation In the early 1840s, the owners of iron ore mines in the Furness district of Lancashire became interested i ...

, eventually becoming its managing director, and in the iron and steel and shipbuilding industry in Barrow-in-Furness. The Furness Railway contributed £2,000 (equivalent to £ in ) towards its cost, although Brandwood et al. consider that it must have cost much more. The same authors also suggest that the house was used by the railway as a showpiece, and that clients would have been entertained there. In 1874 Paley's architectural practice drew up plans for an addition to the North Lodge on the estate, and in 1882 plans for a new morning-room for the house, which was built on its southeast corner. After James Ramsden's death in 1896, the house and estate passed to his son, Frederick, who died in 1941. The house was used by the army during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as can be seen by the presence of disused camp sites within the grounds on later 1950s Ordnance Survey maps, and later a convalescent home. The manor's condition subsequently deteriorated, and it was demolished using

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

in 1961 by Barrow Corporation. Much of the manor's footings however remain visible giving a clear indication of its original scale. Some of the estate buildings were left standing, including four lodges, the home farm, and cottages, all of which had been designed by the Lancaster practice. Some internal furnishings from the manor made by

Gillows of Lancaster and London Gillows of Lancaster and London, also known as Gillow & Co., was an English furniture making firm based in Lancaster, Lancashire, and in London. It was founded around in Lancaster in about 1730 by Robert Gillow (1704–1772). Gillows was owned b ...

were transferred to Barrow Town Hall and even the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. The grounds of the estate are now maintained as a Country Wildlife Site by the

Cumbria Wildlife Trust Cumbria Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the county of Cumbria, England. It runs more than 40 nature reserves, and aims to broaden the awareness and knowledge of the wildlife in the county. History The trust was established in 1962 as ...

Architecture

Abbot's Wood was a large complex building, incorporating elements of

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and

Tudor architecture The Tudor architectural style is the final development of Medieval architecture in England and Wales, during the Tudor period (1485–1603) and even beyond, and also the tentative introduction of Renaissance architecture to Britain. It fo ...

. There were many

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s and roofs, a square tower with a taller stair

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

and a particularly long conservatory. Of the surviving estate buildings, three are recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

as designated Grade II

listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

; two of the lodges and the home farm. The North Lodge, with its attached

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...

and wing walls, is constructed in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, and is in

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. The gatehouse has two storeys, with an archway in the lower storey. The upper storey contains a

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

for a statue, which is flanked by a single-light window on each side. The single-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

gabled lodge to the right has a red tiled roof, and

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed and transomed windows. The South Lodge is

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

on a sandstone

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In c ...

, and has a red tiled roof. It is in two storeys, the front being gabled with a decorated

bargeboard Bargeboard (probably from Medieval Latin ''bargus'', or ''barcus'', a scaffold, and not from the now obsolete synonym "vergeboard") or rake fascia is a board fastened to each projecting gable of a roof to give it strength and protection, and to ...

. The windows are transomed casements, and there is a four-light

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found pro ...

on the left side. The Home Farm is built in sandstone with red tiled roofs. It consists of a cottage with a single storey and an attic, a shippon and calf house, a barn, pigsties, a stable, and a cart shed. These are all set in a U-shape around a courtyard.

References and notes

Notes

Citations

Sources

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External links

Photographs from 1941
{{coord, 54.140, -3.195, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Abbot's Wood Abbot's Wood Abbot's Wood Abbot's Wood Abbot's Wood