Levens Hall is a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

in the

Kent valley Kent is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is part of the Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue metropolitan area and had a population of 136,588 as of the 2020 census, making it the 4th most populous municipality in greater Seattle an ...

, near the village of Levens and south of

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

History

The first house on the site was a

pele tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing ...

built by the Redman family in around 1350. Much of the present building dates from the

Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

, when the Bellingham family extended the house. The Bellinghams, who were responsible for the fine panelling and plasterwork in the main rooms, sold the house and estate in 1689 to Colonel

James Grahme James Grahme (his own spelling) or Graham (1649–1730) was an English army officer, courtier, politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1685 and 1727. After the Glorious Revolution he was involved for ten years in J ...

, or Graham,

Keeper of the Privy Purse The Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the King/Queen (or Financial Secretary to the King/Queen) is responsible for the financial management of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, Royal Household of the Monarchy of the United Kingd ...

King James II James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

, who made a number of additions to the house in the late 17th century. His son Henry Graham was a

knight of the shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistributio ...

for

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

. Further additions were made in the early 19th century. Levens is now owned by the Bagot family and is open to the public. The small collection of steam road vehicles includes several

traction engine A traction engine is a steam engine, steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any t ...

s which are usually steamed on Sundays and Bank Holidays. In October 2021, the building was one of 142 sites across England to receive part of a £35-million injection into the government's

Culture Recovery Fund The Culture Recovery Fund is a grants programme issued by the UK Government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund aims to financially support cultural organisations in England (such as theatres, museums, and music venues) which had bec ...

. In the 1960s Levens Hall was reportedly haunted by a Grey Lady.

Gardens

Levens has a celebrated and large

topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...

garden, which was first created by the French gardener Guillaume Beaumont, the gardener of King James II and the designer of the grounds at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief ...

. Beaumont also planned the tree planting in the deer park, now inhabited by black fallow deer and

Bagot goat The Bagot goat is a breed of goat which for several hundred years has lived semi-wild at Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire, England. In 2010 it was considered "critically endangered" by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, as there were fewer than 100 ...

s. The park and gardens laid out by Beaumont between 1689 and 1712 have survived remarkably intact. They have been described as retaining "almost all of the essential elements of the completed scheme as shown on maps of the park and gardens of 1730". In December 2021 the gardens were featured in the BBC series ''

Gardeners' World ''Gardeners' World'' is a long-running British gardening programme, first broadcast on 5 January 1968. The 2022 series is the 53rd. Its first series was presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. Up until 2020 most of its e ...

''.

References

External links

Official Levens Hall websiteThe Cumbria Directory – Levens Hall
{{Coord, 54.2590, -2.7764, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in Cumbria Gardens in Cumbria Historic house museums in Cumbria South Lakeland District Peel towers in Cumbria Buildings and structures completed in 1350 Houses completed in the 14th century Towers completed in the 14th century Grade I listed buildings in Cumbria Steam museums in England Tourist attractions in Cumbria Grade I listed parks and gardens in Cumbria

History

Gardens

See also

References

External links