Salkeld Hall is a red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

in the village of

Little Salkeld Little Salkeld is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Hunsonby, in the Eden district of Cumbria, England, a few miles to the north east of Penrith. In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 91. History The manor ...

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. Cumb ...

, England and is the original residence of the Salkeld family.

History

The current house was constructed in the late 16th century using walls from previous building(s) that stood on the site. The oldest part of the building was dated in 1967 as being from the 14th century. The date of the first building to exist on the site is unknown; it is the potential location of an 'ancient castle'.

Corby Castle Corby Castle is an ancestral home of the Howard family situated on the southern edge of the village of Great Corby in northern Cumbria, England. History It was originally built in the 13th century, as a red sandstone tower house by the Salkeld ...

in nearby

Great Corby Great Corby is a village in northern Cumbria, England, above the eastern bank of a wooded gorge on the River Eden. Directly across the river from Great Corby is the village of Wetheral. The two villages are linked by a railway viaduct (Corb ...

, built from similar materials in the 14th century, was also owned by the Salkeld Family. Mr George Salkeld, the last member of which to own Salkeld Hall, was forced from the house at the time of the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

for a 'trifling consideration'. Ownership was passed to Colonel Cholmley, who built a new house on the site, and before the year of 1688 it became the property of Mr Charles Smallwood. His descendant, Timothy Smallwood, Esq. sold the house to Colonel Samuel Lacy in 1790. During his occupation of the house Lacy's servant (a deserted

batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

) was (under instruction) responsible for the carving of

Lacy's Caves Lacy's Caves are a series of five chambers in the red sandstone cliff of the River Eden, Cumbria, River Eden, just north of Little Salkeld, Cumbria, England, near Nunnery, Cumbria, at . They are named after Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Lacy of nearb ...

and allegedly attempting to blow up the stones at the nearby

Long Meg and Her Daughters Long Meg and Her Daughters is a Neolithic stone circle situated north-east of Penrith near Little Salkeld in Cumbria, North West England. One of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a m ...

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...

with gunpowder so that the field could be ploughed. The latter is unconfirmed and according to some sources took place in 1725 before Lacy was alive. Local folklore tells that when work commenced a tremendous storm broke out overhead that caused the workmen to flee the site and abandon the work permanently. The stones seem to show no sign of such an explosion. Colonel Lacy sold the house in 1836 to Robert Hodgson, Esq. Ownership between this and the current is unknown, however in 1847 Robert Hodgson was still the reported owner and had made great improvements to the house, offices and gardens. In 1967 the house was recorded as having been divided into a number of holiday flats.

Present condition

The house is currently privately owned with no public rights of way across the land. The main part of the house is intact and occupied by the owner. What were holiday flats are now rented on a contract basis, and little modernisation has taken place since the 1960s. A number of outbuildings to the south-east of the property, which at one time would have been self-contained two-storey houses, are now in ruins.

History

Present condition

See also

References

Further reading