Haile Hall

Over the course of its 122 year history, Country Life has published a number of illustrated articles on historic buildings, also gardens, in Cumbria. The most recent such article ‘ A family affair : Haile Hall, Cumberland, The home of Tristan Ponsonby and Stefano Todde’ appears in the issue published on 30 October 2019. Illustrated by colour photographs, John Martin Robinson provides an account of the history of Haile Hall and its recent, exemplary restoration. Remarkably, Haile Hall has remained in the Ponsonby family since the late 13th century; the present building  dates from the late 16th century with extensions in the 17th and 18th centuries. Whitehaven Archives Centre holds a large quantity of the archives of the Ponsonby family; most recently, with funds made available by the Friends of Cumbria Archives, the Centre was able to acquire some Ponsonby family scrapbooks at an auction in Edinburgh.  Earlier this year, on 3 July, Country Life published ‘Rising from the ruins’, an illustrated article on the gardens at Lowther Castle.