Underley Hall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Underley Hall is a large country house near Kirkby Lonsdale in Cumbria. It was designed in a Jacobean Revival style by the architect George Webster for Alexander Nowell and built between 1825 and 1828, on the site of an earlier house. An additional wing and tower, designed by E. G. Paley and Hubert Austin, were added in 1874.
After being used as a school between 1940 and 1959, the property became St Michael's College, a junior seminary for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster, for which a modernist chapel was designed by George Grenfell-Baines of architecture practice BDP and constructed between 1964 and 1966.
In 1976 the building changed hands again, becoming an independent residential special school for teenagers with behavioural difficulties. The school closed in July 2014 [1]
Alexander Nowell (1761-1842) who built Underley Hall came from a wealthy landowning family. His father was Ralph Nowell (1721-1781) who owned Gawthorpe Hall and Eccleston in Lancashire.[2] At the age of 20 he entered the East India Company’s Army and served in India for ten years. In 1792 he resigned and became an indigo manufacturer in a firm called Nowell & Kearnan. The following year he married the sister of his partner Maria Theresa Kearnan who was the widow of Henry Watson, the owner of a valuable dockyard property in Calcutta.[3]
He became quite wealthy and the couple returned to England in 1805 and bought two properties. One in Wipole Street London and then three years later in 1808 the Underley Estate. His wife was the beneficiary from the Wills of two of her brothers and became wealthy in her own right. The couple had no children and when she died in 1824 she left all of her money to Alexander. In the following year he married Charlotte Farrington who was the daughter of James Farrington of Shawe Hall. Farrington was a wealthy landowner and gave the couple a very large marriage settlement. With this money and his inheritance he built Underley Hall. He commissioned the famous architect George Webster to undertake the task which took three years. When the building was finished in 1828 he asked John Chessell Buckler to paint five different perspectives of the house. The main one is shown and the other four can be seen at this reference.[4]
William Thompson (1792-1854) was the son of James Thompson of Grayrigg. He joined his uncle in a firm of London iron merchants and became very wealthy.[5] He also occupied many prestigious positions including the Mayor of London, Chairman of Lloyd's of London and Director of the Bank of England.
In 1817 he married Amelia Homfray (1799-1861), daughter of Samuel Homfray of Penydarren Place, Merthyr in Wales and Coworth Park, Berkshire. The couple had one daughter Amelia Thompson (1824-1864). She married in 1842 Thomas Taylour Earl of Bective (1822-1894).
When he died in 1854 William Thompson left a very detailed Will which is outlined at this reference.[6] His wife was to have a life interest in the house and after that it was to go to his daughter. On her death his grandson was to inherit the property. His wife died in 1861 and his daughter died three years later in 1864. His grandson Sir Thomas Taylour became the owner at the age of 21 in 1865.
