page_title: Lowther Castle
section_title: William and Augusta Lowther, 1st Earl and Countess of Lonsdale
hierarchical_section_title: Lowther Castle / William and Augusta Lowther, 1st Earl and Countess of Lonsdale
caption_attribution_description: English: William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale circa 1830
context_page_description: Lowther Castle is a country house in the historic county of Westmorland, which now forms part of the modern county of Cumbria, England. It has belonged to the Lowther family, latterly the Earls of Lonsdale, since the Middle Ages. It is a fully managed ruin, open to visits by the public to the shell of the castle and some of the gardens since 2011. Additional work was completed since that time, most recently on the extensive gardens.
  In the late 17th century John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale rebuilt the family home, then known as Lowther Hall, on a grand scale. The current building is a castellated mansion which was built by Robert Smirke for William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale between 1806 and 1814, and it was only at that time that the site was designated a "castle". The family fortune was undermined by the extravagance of the 5th Earl of Lonsdale, a famous socialite, and the castle was closed in 1937. During the Second World War, it was used by a tank regiment. Its contents were removed in the late 1940s and the roof was removed in 1957. The shell is still owned by the Lowther Estate Trust.
context_section_description: William Lowther was born in 1757, and he was about 52 years old when he built Lowther Castle. He was the eldest son of Reverend Sir William Lowther and Anne Zouch. He was educated at Cambridge University, and in 1780 at the age of 23 he became a Member of Parliament. A year later he married Lady Augusta Fane, the daughter of John 9th Earl of Westmorland. He was an MP for 22 years until 1802, when he inherited the estates from his cousin Sir James Lowther.
  Sir James Lowther had a rather disreputable history. He incurred a large debt to the father of William Wordsworth and refused to pay it despite numerous requests from the family. When Sir James Lowther died in 1802 and William inherited his fortune he immediately refunded the money to the Wordsworth family with interest. He also befriended William Wordsworth and assisted him financially. Wordsworth frequently stayed at Lowther Castle; many of his published letters are written from there.
  Wordsworth wrote several poems for William. Part of his verse about Lowther Castle is as follows:
  "Lowther! in thy majestic Pile are seen
  Cathedral pomp and grace in apt accord
  With the baronial castle’s sterner mien"
  Lady Augusta Lonsdale, William's wife, was also a patron of the arts, and she kept an album in which some of the poets visiting Lowther Castle wrote verse. Wordsworth wrote a long poem in her honour in the album; it has been included in his published works.
  Robert Southey, another famous poet, was also a frequent visitor at the castle and he too wrote in Lady Lonsdale's album. A verse he composed about Lowther Castle is as follows:
  "Lowther! have I beheld thy stately walls,
   
  Thy pinnacles, and broad embattled brow,
   
  And hospitable halls.
   
  The sun those wide spread battlements shall crest,
   
  And silent years unharming shall go by,
   
  Till centuries in their course invest
   
  Thy towers with sanctity."
  The Earl and Countess also encouraged artists to visit Lowther Castle. The most famous of these was Joseph Turner. He painted the recently acquired work called “Lowther Castle – Evening” which hangs in the Bowes Museum. William also became the patron to Jacob Thompson who painted his portrait which is shown above.
  In 1839 Mrs Harriette Story Paige visited Lowther Castle with Daniel Webster, a famous American politician. A detailed account of her experiences were given in her diary, in which she noted that:
  "We reached Lowther just at the hour of lunch, contrary to the English etiquette, which usually establishes the time for arriving, an hour or two only,before dinner, when at the announcement of that meal, the guests meet, for the first time. The Castle bell was rung, as we passed through the arched stone gateway, after a drive through the noble parks."
  Daniel Webster's wife also kept a diary and described her experience of the same visit to Lowther Castle.
caption: William Lowther 1st Earl of Lonsdale.
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