Lowther Castle

Gothic Revival ruin near Penrith, Cumbria — in the Lake District National Park, at the edge of the Eden Valley country we call home.

The house

Lowther Castle is a Grade II* listed ruined country house in the Gothic Revival style, near Penrith in Cumbria, within the Lake District National Park. It was built between 1806 and 1814 as a sham castle on the site of earlier Lowther family residences, including a medieval hall, to designs by architect Robert Smirke for William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale.

Of calciferous sandstone ashlar, with battlemented parapets, Tudor-style windows, and a central square stair tower flanked by octagonal turrets, the three-storey house originally included 365 rooms — one for every day of the year — and housed an extensive art collection.

The estate and family

The Lowther Estate, centred on the castle, has been associated with the Lowther family since the 12th century, tracing its origins to Dolfin, a descendant of Viking settlers who arrived around 1150 and named the local river Lowther. Earlier structures on the site included a motte-and-bailey castle from the Norman period (likely around 1092) and later hall houses rebuilt in the late 17th century.

The 19th-century castle marked the height of the family’s wealth from coal and iron, and was a venue for notable visitors including Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, the poet William Wordsworth, and Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Decline and revival

By the early 20th century, financial difficulties led to the castle’s closure in 1935 under the 5th Earl of Lonsdale. It was requisitioned as a tank training range during the Second World War; contents were sold in 1947, and the roof was deliberately removed in 1957 by the 7th Earl to avoid death duties. Decay into a romantic ruin followed, while the surrounding parkland — laid out from the 17th century with avenues, terraces and formal gardens — kept its Grade II status.

In recent decades the Lowther Castle & Gardens Trust has led restoration, with renewed gardens (including work by Dan Pearson), exhibitions and public access. The estate continues as both a family legacy and a guardian of the region’s landscape and heritage.