Castle Head is a country house surrounded by of grounds near to the seaside resort of

Grange-over-Sands Grange-over-Sands is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the north side of Morecambe Bay in Cumbria, England, a few miles south of the Lake District Lake District National Park, National Park. In the United Kingdom Census 201 ...

Cumbria 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, Lancash ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is run by

Field Studies Council Field Studies Council is an educational charity based in the UK, which offers opportunities for people to learn about and engage with the outdoors. History The organisation was established as the Council for the Promotion of Field Studies in ...

, and is a

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The house was built in the

Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, Ge ...

for John Wilkinson, an

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

, in . He was buried in the garden at Castle Head in 1808 before being re-interred in the church in 1828. The house was then acquired by Robert Wright, a solicitor, but lay empty under his ownership for some 30 years, before being bought in 1863 by Edward Mucklow, a

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

businessman. The house went on to serve as St Mary's Missionary College, a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

owned by the

Holy Ghost Fathers The Congregation of the Holy Spirit (officially the Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary; ) is a religious congregation for men in the Catholic Church. Members are often known as Holy ...

, from the early 20th century until it closed in the late 1970s. Students who trained there included, briefly, Sir Gerry Robinson, the industrialist. Since the mid-1970s the house has been a Field Studies Centre, from 1997 managed by the

who offer residential and non residential fieldwork for schools, colleges and universities and holiday accommodation. In September 2009 a Life Science Centre was also established at the house.

References

External links

Castle Head Field Centre
Country houses in Cumbria Field studies centres in the United Kingdom Grade II listed buildings in Cumbria Grade II listed houses Grange-over-Sands {{UK-edu-stub