THE EDGE
VACATION & HOLIDAY GUIDE TO
CUMBRIA & THE LAKE DISTRICT
Workington Hall
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WORKINGTON HALL Location: OS ref NY 008288 Sheet 89. In the outskirts of Workington just to the right of the A66 as you enter the town from the east.
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Workington Hall is a shadow of its former self, although recent conservation work will prevent it from further decay.
A licence to crenelate was granted to Gilbert de Curwen IV in 1380, whose family had owned the manor since the early C13. Mary Queen of Scots stayed at the Hall when escaping from Scotland in the 1560s. The Hall stayed in the Curwen family until around 1930 when it passed to the Chance family by marriage. Eventually the Hall was given to the Town Council but it fell into such a state of disrepair that some parts were demolished to make it safe. This was in 1946 and shows the thinking that went on in council chambers around the whole country around that time. While European cities and towns restored what had been damaged in the war, their UK equivalents demolished anything they could and put up the most woeful examples of 'modern' architecture. These are thankfully more enlightened times, and it is now rare for towns and cities deliberately to destroy their historical assets.
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