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A Large Family of Goats, a Herd of 'Black' Fallow Deer and All Sorts of Wild Creatures
Levens Hall, an Elizabethan mansion, built around a 13th century pele tower. Home to the Bagot family containing superb panelling, plaster work and period furniture. Many paintings and the earliest English patchwork. The world famous topiary gardens were first laid out in 1694 by Monsieur Beaumopnt.
Levens Hall is a manor house in the county of Cumbria in northern England. The first house on the site was a pele tower built by the Redman family in around 1350. Much of the present building dates from the Elizabethan era, when the Bellingham family extended the house. They were responsible for the fine panelling and plasterwork in the main rooms. Further additions were made in the late 17th and early 19th centuries. Levens is now owned by the Bagot family and is open to the public. It has a celebrated topiary garden, which was started in 1694.
On Friday it was a fabulous day so it was on with the walking boots and off to Levens Park, near Milnthorpe, for a wander. View Gallery when the sun is shining in our area offers a huge selection of places to go for an enjoyable walk. I'd never been to Levens Park and was amazed to discover just what I'd been missing. This vast and unspoilt area of parkland, belonging to the Bagot family, is home to magnificent trees, a large family of goats, a herd of 'black' fallow deer and all sorts of wild creatures. NEWBORN: A spring lamb in Levens Park. We spent two glorious hours walking in this magical park and were finally followed back to the road by friendly goats. Levens Hall and gardens wasn't open (it's closed Fridays and Saturdays) so we had coffee at Beetham Nurseries.
Levens
Hall
Five miles south of Kendal,
on the lower reaches of the River Kent, stands Levens
Hall. It started life in the 14th century as a pele tower but was expanded
to a manor house in the 17th and 19th centuries. It is the family home
of the Bagots and contains impressive collections of Jacobean furniture
and paintings, and boasts a highly unusual leather-panelled dining room.
Although the interior is impressive, Levens Hall is best known for its topiary gardens, regarded by many as the finest in the world. The design was laid out in 1694 by Guillaume Beaumont in 1694 and has not changed since. The grounds are also home to a rose garden and a fountain garden.
Levens Hall is open to the public Sundays to Thursdays from the beginning of April until mid-October. The gardens open at 10 am and the house at midday. The Bellingham Buttery offers freshly-made food, including venison and pheasant from the Levens Estate. What a treat.
The owner in 1688 was a Colonel Grahme, and he commissioned Monsieur Guillaume Beaumont to reconstruct the Levens Garden and Levens Park.
By 1694 the amazing topiary started to make Leavens a national reputation. Later, Colonel Grahme's daughter, the Countess of Suffolk and Berkshire,carried on her fathers work. The house and garden have subsequently passed down the family with few alterations to the present owner, Hal Bagot.
The topiary is of traditional yew, both golden and common, and with box scattered in between. Between the trees the flower beds add to the colour. The grey stone house with its square pele tower is a backdrop to the scene.
Clipping is a major job here. They start on the beech hedge in mid August and is usually finish that by mid October. Clipping of the yew topiary and box then continues until Christmas. This is work has been further lengthened by the implementation of health and safety regulations. A staff of four gardeners is required, and they grow most of the bedding plants and maintain the many herbaceous borders and lawns.
Pedigrees of Related Families
Including The Bagot Family
At the Visitation of Essex undertaken in 1634 a pedigree of the Scot family includes William Scot of Chigwell, co. Essex, whose will was dated 20 November 1597. He married Prudence daughter and coheir of Edmund Alabaster of Bretts Hall in Tendring [co. Essex]. The Arms of Scot include as eighth quartering the Arms of Alabaster, namely Ermine a Crossbow palewise Gules.
An examination of the Visitation of Staffordshire undertaken in 1566 revealed a pedigree of Bagot; this mentions Maude daughter of John Bagot and of Isabel his wife daughter of John Corson of Essex. She married Richard Alabaster. No dates are given, and there is no mention of the Arms of Alabaster.
The College of Arms holds no original manuscript of the 1583 Visitation of Staffordshire. A copy of the original was prepared by Sir William Dugdale in the seventeenth century; it is known to have many errors. Nonetheless is includes a pedigree of six generations, headed by Thomas Arablaster of Longdon, father of Richard Arablaster of Longdon who married Maude, daughter of John Bagot. It ends with Thomas, son of George Arablaster of Longdon, who was alive 1583. The Arms are Ermine a Crossbow palewise Gules. The Crest is Out of a Crest Coronet Or a Greyhound's head Argent gorged with a Collar and ringed Or.
Another manuscript held by the College of Arms, which contains pedigrees from the Visitations of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire of 1574, and of London of 1568, includes a slightly later version of the above pedigree. Seven generations are shown, descending from Thomas Arblaster, father of Richard his son and heir who married Maude, daughter of John Bagot. It ends with the children of Thomas Arblaster and of Anne his wife, daughter of Sir Ralph Egerton. No Arms were recorded.
Most, if not all of the information on this page or other pages searched for Pykes Hall usually wound up mentioning Levens Park and Hall. Most of what I could find out was that there were many people named Pykes, and that is where it got its name. Althouth, Bagot did own a portion or all of Pykes Hall, there is not much mention of the name Bagot in these findings. The piece about Kersey Mill was down on the page below where Bagot was mentioned, but I did save it.
Five miles south of Kendal, on the lower reaches of the River Kent, stands Levens Hall. It started life in the 14th century as a pele tower but was expanded to a manor house in the 17th and 19th centuries. It is the family home of the Bagots and contains impressive collections of Jacobean furniture and paintings, and boasts a highly unusual leather-panelled dining room.
Although the interior is impressive, Levens Hall is best known for its topiary gardens, regarded by many as the finest in the world. The design was laid out in 1694 by Guillaume Beaumont in 1694 and has not changed since. The grounds are also home to a rose garden and a fountain garden.
Levens Hall is open to the public Sundays to Thursdays from the beginning of April until mid-October. The gardens open at 10 a.m. and the house at mid-day. The Bellingham Buttery offers freshly-made food, including venison and pheasant from the Levens Estate.
An Elizabethan Mansion At Its Best
Levens Hall is an Elizabethan mansion built around a 13th century pele tower (ruins of pele tower). The much loved home of the Bagot family, visitors comment on the warm and friendly atmosphere. Fine panelling and plasterwork, period furniture, Cordova leather wall coverings, paintings by Rubens, Lely and Cuyp, the earliest English patchwork and Wellingtoniana combine with other beautiful objects to form a fascinating collection.
The world famous Topiary Gardens were laid out by Monsieur Beaumont from 1694 and his design has remained largely unchanged to this day. Over ninety individual pieces of topiary, some over nine metres high, and massive beech hedges provide a magnificent visual impact. A new Fountain Garden was created in 1994 and in the same year Levens Gardens were awarded the prestigious HHA/Christie's Garden of the Year Award in 1997.
Levens Hall became the runner-up in the NPI award for the Best Historic Houses Association Property. On Sundays and Bank Holidays `Bertha', a full size Showman's Engine, is in steam together with a scale model `Little Gem'. The fine collection of working model steam engines runs on house Open Days from 2 - 5pm. Delicious home-made lunches and teas are available together with the award winning Levens beer `Morocco Ale', in the recently extended tearoom. A new gift shop opens in Spring 1999, completing a two year programme of improvements and refurbishments of visitor facilities. Historic Houses Association Member.
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