Old Cumbria Gazetteer
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| placename:- | Crackenthorpe Hall | |
| locality:- | Crackenthorpe | |
| parish |
Crackenthorpe parish, once
in Westmorland
| |
| county:- | Cumbria | |
| building/s | ||
| coordinates:- |
NY66212180 | |
| 10Km square:- |
NY62
| |
| 1Km square | NY6621 | |
| old text:- |
Camden 1789 (Gough
Additions)
| |
| Britannia, or A Chorographical Description of the Flourishing Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by William Camden, 1586, translated from the 1607 Latin edition by Richard Gough, published London, 1789. | ||
| Page 158:- | ||
| ... | ||
| From thence the Eden runs to Crackenthorp hall, a seat pleasantly situated on its east bank belonging to the Machels, a family of good note in this county from the Conquest to the present time. About it lie several considerable camps, and many antiquities found thereabouts and in other parts of the county were collected and preserved by Mr. Thomas Machel, brother to Hugh Machel, lord of the manor, and late minister of Kirkby Thor, who intended a history of this county. | ||
| placename:- | Crackenthorp Hall | |
| person:- | : Machel Family | |
| person:- | : Machel, Thomas | |
| date:- | 1789 | |
| period:- | 18th century, late; 1780s | |
| database:- |
Listed Buildings 2010
Listed Buildings 2010 | |
| courtesy of English Heritage | ||
| CRACKENTHORPE HALL / / / CLIBURN / EDEN / CUMBRIA / II / 422776 / NY6620521793 | ||
| courtesy of English Heritage | ||
| Large house now (1983) subdivided into 3. Rebuilt early C17, refronted c1685 by Hugh & Thomas Machell; south-west wing added in late C19. Rubble with rusticated quoins, pebble-dashed; C17 block has clear margins around openings. Graduated slate roofs of various heights with stone copings and kneelers; corniced stone end chimneys. C17 symmetrical 5-bay front of 2 storeys with attics; centre 3 bays project under pediment with dentil ornament. Original 'T'-shaped cast-iron knocker to studded door in architrave with rusticated frieze and pediment above. String-course runs below attic. Main 2-light windows are mullioned and transomed, with leaded panes, in architraves; attic windows are smaller and lack transoms. End wall has 2 windows to each floor; a C19 panel bearing the Machell arms is set between 2 Roman altars at 1st floor level. Rear elevation has sashes with glazing bars; stair wing projects on left. Internally, the C17 closed-string, dog-leg staircase survives; the balusters have a corkscrew twist, tapering towards the top. Ball finials and pendants to the square newels; deeply-moulded handrail. In the south-west corner of the main ground floor room is a reset fireplace recess constructed of C17/C18 panels with human, animal, and geometric carving. The (C19?) east fireplace in the same room bears a Latin inscription: LIGNA SUPER FOCO LARGE REPONENS DISSOLVE FRIGUS. At first floor level, the end room (formerly a dining room) is fully panelled, with a late C17 corniced fireplace; in the central room is an early C18 wooden fire-surround with fluted pilasters and egg and dart moulding. Some original panelled doors also survive. A pedimented datestone, L.M. 1663, has been reset in the east wall at the rear of the late C19 wing whose appearance is modelled on that of the C17 block. Internally, the detailing of the stairs and landing copies that of the C17 and is a good example of the high standard of workmanship applied throughout. | ||
| placename:- | Crackenthorpe Hall | |
| district:- | Eden | |
| listed building | ||
| coordinates:- |
NY66202179 | |
| date:- | 2010 | |
| period:- | 2010s | |
| database:- |
Listed Buildings 2010
Listed Buildings 2010 | |
| courtesy of English Heritage | ||
| TURBINE HOUSE TO SOUTH OF CRACKENTHORPE HALL / / / CRACKENTHORPE / EDEN / CUMBRIA / II / 422780 / NY6625321523 | ||
| courtesy of English Heritage | ||
| Turbine-house, dated 1912. Snecked, squared rubble with quoins. Graduated slate roof with projecting eaves. 2 storeys, built across small stream with entrance at upper level. Panel with coat of arms above door, under pointed hoodmould. Single 2-light mullioned window to end and each side wall. Initialled datestone, in Roman numerals, set in wall below window on west side. Early example of purpose-built structure for private generation of electricity by turbine; machinery now no longer in place. | ||
| district:- | Eden | |
| listed building -- water turbine; hydroelectric scheme | ||
| coordinates:- |
NY66252152 | |
| date:- | 2010 | |
| period:- | 2010s | |
| database:- |
Listed Buildings 2010
Listed Buildings 2010 | |
| courtesy of English Heritage | ||
| FOUNTAIN HEAD IN GARDEN TO SOUTH WEST OF CRACKENTHORPE HALL / / / CRACKENTHORPE / EDEN / CUMBRIA / II / 422779 / NY6619621777 | ||
| courtesy of English Heritage | ||
| Late C19/early C20 sculpted panel (in lead?) has central spout in mouth of bearded man's head with ram's horns; shell-shaped bottom of panel projects, supporting 2 small cherubs. Panel to rear bears inscription "Fountain designed & executed by Feodora Gleichen. R.S.P.E:R.S.B.S. Legion D'Honneur (Posthumous). Daughter of Admiral H.S.H. Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. G.C.B. R.N. (Nephew of Queen Victoria) and of his wife Lady Laura Seymour. | ||
| district:- | Eden | |
| listed building -- fountain | ||
| coordinates:- |
NY66192177 | |
| date:- | 2010 | |
| period:- | 2010s | |
| database:- |
Listed Buildings 2010
Listed Buildings 2010 | |
| courtesy of English Heritage | ||
| COACH HOUSE TO NORTH WEST OF CRACKENTHORPE HALL / / / CRACKENTHORPE / EDEN / CUMBRIA / II / 422777 / NY6617921818 | ||
| courtesy of English Heritage | ||
| Late C19 coach-house with stabling below and billiard room to one end. Coursed, squared rubble with quoins. Graduated slate roof has stone coping with kneelers to north end and conical central vent. Symmetrical 2-storey, 9-bay front has 5 doors alternating with 4 small windows; one window is blocked and one door has been converted into a window. 1st floor has 2 windows to either side of central loft door; circular vent-holes above. Windows have glazing bars; all openings have segmental heads. 4 similar windows to south end; but north end, partitioned off for use as billiard room, has a 5-light mullioned window to ground floor and a similar 4-light window above, both under hoodmoulds. Curving ramp to south of buildings leads round to central coach door, with segmental head, at rear; of the buildings flanking this door, that on the north side has partly collapsed. | ||
| district:- | Eden | |
| listed building -- coach house | ||
| coordinates:- |
NY66172181 | |
| date:- | 2010 | |
| period:- | 2010s | |
| database:- |
Listed Buildings 2010
Listed Buildings 2010 | |
| courtesy of English Heritage | ||
| SUMMER HOUSE TO WEST OF CRACKENTHORPE HALL / / / CRACKENTHORPE / EDEN / CUMBRIA / II / 422778 / NY6617321796 | ||
| courtesy of English Heritage | ||
| Summer-house, dated 1891. Coursed sandstone blocks. Graduated slate roof. Pediment supported on 4 unfluted Roman Doric columns; stylised triglyphs with central datestone. | ||
| district:- | Eden | |
| listed building -- summer house | ||
| coordinates:- |
NY66172179 | |
| date:- | 2010 | |
| period:- | 2010s | |
| ghost story |
In the 17th century Elizabeth Sleddal came from Penrith to
marry Lancelot Machel, during the rule of Cromwell. Both
were Royalists. Peg was slighted by her husbands will, and
after she died she haunted the hall, being known as Peg
Sneddle, the grey lady of Crackenthorpe. She caused such
trouble that a catholic priest was called in to exorcise her
ghost; the catholics used Latin, far stronger ... She was
exhumed and buried in the bed of the River Eden under a
boulder of Shap granite known as Peg's stone. She is said to
rise up once a year yet.
| |
| references |
Robertson, Dawn & Koronka, Peter: 1992: Secrets and
Legends of Old Westmorland: Pagan Press (Kirkby Stephen,
Cumbria) & Cumbria CC (library service)
| |
| Old Cumbria Gazetteer - JandMN: 2008 | ||
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