Asby History Group

Please let Keith know by 25 July if you would like to come.

Led by:  Keith Cooper.

Keith, the AHG Secretary, will lead a tour of the interior of Dalemain House, where he works as a House Guide.

Dalemain has a very fine Georgian east front, which is wrapped around an older mixture of medieval, Tudor, Elizabethan and late 17th century structures.  As Nikolaus Pevsner writes of 18th century country house building: “Cumbria is not the place to look for grand sweepings away. The old tower was almost always retained, although it might be disguised”.

Inside one can find:

• One of the earliest examples of Chinese painted wallpaper to be found on the walls of an English country house, dating from 1757.
• A good collection of Gillow furniture.
• Lady Anne Clifford’s diary from the final months of her life, and
• A small exhibition commemorating the Cumberland and Westmorland Yeomanry, who played a major part in restoring order to Penrith after the 1846 ‘Navvy Riots’.

The extensive nature of both the Hasell family archives (Dalemain) and those of Gillows of Lancaster mean that it is possible to put together quite detailed and interesting ‘back-stories’ about a number of the house’s contents.

Although it contains some minor inaccuracies, for more background  click on ‘Learn More’ below to see the ‘Historic England’ website entry; or take a look at Hyde, M & Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Cumbria, London, 2010, pp 322-4

We plan to meet at the Great Asby bus-shelter at 1 pm on August 7th, with the Dalemain tour scheduled to commence at 2pm, ending at 3.30.

There will be a slight discounting of the usual house tour charge for this event (£9).

All welcome, AHG members and non-members.