Sizergh Facts for Kids

Sizergh Castle, a cool old tower and Tudor house

Sizergh Castle is a grand old house with beautiful gardens and a large estate in Cumbria, England. It's about 4 kilometers south of Kendal. This amazing castle is a very important historical building. Even though the Hornyold-Strickland family still lives there, the castle, its gardens, and the estate are looked after by the National Trust. In 2016, the Sizergh estate became part of the bigger Lake District National Park.

What Makes Sizergh Castle Special?
Castle History
Beautiful Gardens
The Sizergh Estate
- Wildlife and Nature
  - Birds
  - Butterflies
- Sizergh Fell
Sizergh in Media
See also

What Makes Sizergh Castle Special?

The tower at Sizergh Castle, looking up from the south side

The oldest part of Sizergh Castle is a tall tower built a very long time ago, in the 1300s or 1400s.

Amazing Woodwork

Some of the furniture inside the castle is very old, from the time of Walter Strickland (who lived from 1516 to 1569). His wife, Alice Tempest, made lists of everything in the house after he passed away. These lists mention three oak armchairs and three chests that are still there today!

The castle has rooms with beautiful oak wood panels. One special room is called the Inlaid Chamber. Its panels have cool patterns made from light poplar wood and dark bog-oak. For a while, these panels were in a museum in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum. But in 1999, they came back to Sizergh Castle on a long loan. In 2017, the National Trust officially became the owner of these special panels.

Old Paintings

Sizergh Castle has many interesting paintings.

There are portraits of the Catholic Royal Stuart family. These show that the Strickland family had connections to the Jacobite court, which was in exile in France. You can see paintings of Queen Mary of Modena and her daughter Princess Louisa Maria.
You'll also find portraits of the Strickland family themselves. Some of these were painted by a local artist named George Romney.

Gallery of Portraits

Mary Matthews (1823–1890)
Marie Louise Geneviève Alice de La Chère (1856–1943)
Thomas Strickland Standish (1763–1813)
Henriette Rose Peronne de Sercey (1770–1849)
Thomas Strickland Standish of Sizergh (1792–1835)
Ursule Ida de Finguerlin de Bischingen (1805–1846)

Castle History

The Deincourt family first owned the land where Sizergh Castle stands in the 1170s. In 1239, Elizabeth Deincourt married Sir William de Stirkeland, and the estate then went to the Strickland family. They owned it for a very long time, until 1950. That's when Lieutenant Commander Thomas Hornyold-Strickland gave it to the National Trust.

It's believed that Katherine Parr, who was the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, lived here for a while after her first husband passed away in 1533. Katherine was related to the Stricklands.

The castle was made bigger during the Elizabethan era. Later, around 1770, the great hall was expanded again in the Georgian style.

Beautiful Gardens

Sizergh Castle and part of its lovely garden

The gardens at Sizergh are very special. They have a lake, a kitchen garden where food is grown, and a rock garden. The rock garden was built in the 1920s and is the biggest limestone rock garden owned by the National Trust.

Sizergh also has a special collection of ferns, which are a type of plant. You can see them in the rock garden, a stumpery (a garden feature made with tree stumps), and the orchard.

The Sizergh Estate

The land around Sizergh Castle is called the estate. In 1336, King Edward III allowed Sir Walter Strickland to make the land around Sizergh his own private park. The entire estate covers about 647 hectares.

Wildlife and Nature

The Sizergh estate has different types of natural areas for animals and plants. For example, in 2014, a large wetland area (about 35 hectares) was created on the western side of the estate. This project received money from Natural England to help wildlife. People hope it will attract special birds like bitterns and other animals.

The Sizergh estate also gets support from the Morecambe Bay Nature Improvement Area, which helps improve nature in the area.

Birds

The Sizergh estate is a great place to spot birds. For example, hawfinches, which are usually quite shy, are often seen near the main car park in the spring. They like the hornbeam trees there.

Butterflies

You can find different types of fritillary butterflies on the estate, including pearl-bordered and high brown fritillaries.

Sizergh Fell

Sizergh Fell is a hill that is about 123 meters tall. It's about 1 kilometer southwest of the castle. Some people think that a group of stones on the fell might be the remains of an ancient stone circle.

Sizergh in Media

Sizergh Castle was shown in the ITV documentary called Inside the National Trust.

The room known as the Inlaid Chamber is also the subject of a poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon. It's called The Queen’s Room, Sizergh Hall, Westmorland and was published in a book in 1836.

Sizergh facts for kids

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