Lowther Castle is a Grade II* listed building in the Lake District National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 6 February 1968. Country house. 1 related planning application.
Lowther Castle
- WRENN ID
- shadowed-spire-poplar
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Lake District National Park
- Constituency
- Westmorland and Lonsdale MP: Tim Farron (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 6 February 1968
- Type
- Country house
- Address
- Lowther Castle, Westmorland and Furness, CA10 2HH
- OS grid reference
- NY 521 238
- Coordinates
- 54.60711, -2.74234
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Lowther Castle is a country house built as a sham castle, now a roofless ruin. It was constructed between 1806 and 1814 on the site of a medieval hall by Sir Robert Smirke for the 1st Earl of Lonsdale. The building is made of calciferous sandstone ashlar and features a string course and battlemented parapets.
The design includes a tall central square stair tower, which rises above a three-storey, three-bay central section flanked by two-storey, three-bay wings. There are low flanking recessed three-bay links leading to two-storey, three-bay end pavilions, with each corner featuring either a circular or octagonal turret. The central porte-cochere has pointed arches beneath tracery stone panels, a battlemented parapet, and octagonal, panelled turrets.
The central bays display a mix of fenestration, including a four-light Tudor window above the porch and pointed-arched windows. The ground floor of the wings has pointed-arched tracery windows beneath two-light Tudor-style windows, while the pavilions also feature two-light Tudor-style windows. Currently, all windows are without tracery or mullions.
The house was closed in 1935, having over 260 rooms and costing £77,000 to build. It was partly used as a tank training range during World War II. The contents were sold in 1947, and the roof was removed in 1957. For further details, see "Architectural Drawings from Lowther Castle" by Colvin, Crook & Friedman, and "The Yellow Earl" by D. Sutherland for the later history of the castle.
Local climate
Lowther Castle sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,250 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 93% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 86% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 57 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 97% of listed buildings. Of these, 34 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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