From a drawing by F. W. Hulme. Day & Son. Lithʳˢ to The Queen.
SIZERGH HALL,
WESTMORLAND.
izergh Hall, with its venerable towers, presents to the traveller journeying from Lancaster to Kendal an appearance peculiarly impressive. After passing Levens Hall, famous for its antique gardens and other vestiges of the olden time, two miles bring us to Sizergh, which a sudden turn presents to view, standing about half a mile from the main road, on a fine natural terrace of considerable elevation above the general level of the surrounding country. Fine time-honoured trees are thickly spread around; among them are some noble elms, whose stateliness is, however, rapidly giving way before the inroads of age. The park is small, and not particularly well ordered; it has also the appearance of being much diminished in size, the main turnpike-road having, in all probability, been cut through it, as in the case of Levens, where the house is on one side of the road and the park on the other.
The palmy state of this place belongs to other days; nevertheless much is left to shew what it has been, with the added interest of increasing years and antiquity to throw its halo of mystery around the scene. The hall front faces the east: the lithotint view will shew that it is singularly irregular and picturesque in its general outline, the whole being a collection of parts belonging to various eras; exhibiting here and there incongruities of style, particularly in the ugly modern windows, which, about eighty years ago, were introduced to supplant those that were mullioned. These abominations, we were informed, are shortly to be removed, and their places supplied by windows in keeping with the structure. By far the oldest parts of the building are the two southern towers, of the erection of which, it is said, no record remains; these towers are embattled, and are of amazing strength, the walls and the floors that divide the several stories being of great thickness and solidity, displaying a lavish use of materials in their construction: the beams are particularly remarkable in this respect. The smaller tower rises considerably above the other: in the upper part there is a guard-chamber, capable of containing a dozen men—a necessary precaution in feudal times to prevent sudden attacks. Behind, is a large square courtyard, one hundred and eighty feet from side to side, and enclosed on three sides by the back buildings of the mansion. These large yards were a necessary part of the old Border strongholds; they were generally large, as in this case, fortified by strong walls, and were used to protect the cattle, which were regularly secured therein at night, and during the frequent inroads of the turbulent and ever-watchful enemy, whose visits were not by any means either few or far between. In front a double flight of steps leads from the garden-terrace to a second terrace, leading direct into the Hall, a large room fifty feet in length, hung with rich tapestry and some good family pictures, many of the latter being of considerable artistic merit, as well as of historical interest. Among these the most “noticeable” are—Sir Robert Strickland, a zealous adherent of the Royalist party in the civil wars of the time of Charles I.; Sir Thomas Strickland, knight-banneret, and one of the privy council to James II.; and of his third son, Roger Strickland; Thomas Strickland, bishop of Namur, and ambassador to England from the Emperor Charles VI., by Rigaut. There is also a good portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, said to be by More. The drawing-room contains portraits of James II. and his queen, and one of Charles II., a royal gift from James himself to the family.