Skirwith Abbey is a country house in

Skirwith Skirwith is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Culgaith, in the Eden district, in the county of Cumbria, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 227. On 1 April 1934 the parish was abolished and merged with Culgaith ...

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. C ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The House is a two-storey house of five by three bays, built by

Thomas Addison Thomas J Addison (April 179329 June 1860) was an English physician, chef, and scientist. He is traditionally regarded as one of the "great men" of Guy's Hospital in London. Among other pathologies, he discovered Addison's disease (a degenerati ...

, mason, in 1768-74 for

John Orfeur Yates John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

, who spent many years in India. The main front has more closely spaced windows in the centre; and the centre and angles are also defined by differences in the ashlar stonework. The front door is approached by a splayed, balustraded staircase carried on a bridge over the wide area that encircles the house. The rear of the house is similar, and both sides have a canted full-height

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or ...

in the centre. Except on the entrance front, the area is surrounded by

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

railings with

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

standards.

References

*C. R. Hudleston & R. S. Boumphrey, ''Cumberland Families and Heraldry'', 1978, p. 378 *Sir N. Pevsner, ''The Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland'', 1967, p. 190 *J. M. Robinson, ''The Country Houses of the North West'', 1991, p. 139

External links

* {{coord, 54.6821, -2.5988, type:landmark_region:GB-CMA, display=title Country houses in Cumbria Culgaith