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English inheritance

Purobi Menon

The Lake district is English countryside at its best with mountains and tarns, pristine lakes and sheep all over. As one

journeys over hill and dale, taking in the variety of sights, a poet is born in every traveller to the district with the

silence and stillness giving way to rapturous expression. And there is history too amid this beauty -- Levens Hall in Kendal, one of the best preserved stately homes in southern Lakeland.

The Lake District is in the county of Cumbria formed by merging Cumberland and Westmorland. It is now England's second largest county in terms of area (2,240 sq km). From London, the distance by motorway to Kendal, the southern gateway to the Lakes is ab out 420 km.

The ancient Celts were the original inhabitants of Lakeland and had strong bonds with the Celts in Wales. They referred to each other as Cymry, hence the name Cumbria.

The people who inhabited the lakes were `statesmen' with small estates and small-time farmers with farmhouses, much as they are today. But they protected themselves with fortified houses and pele towers -- a legacy of a history of conflict with Scotland just across the border.

Levens Hall reflects the life and times of various eras in England and a tour of the house is a fascinating experience. It is currently owned by Hal and Susan Bagot who live there with their family of four and who lovingly preserve their heritage.

The centre of the present building has the remains of the pele tower and hall built in medieval times, circa 1250-1300 by the de Redman family whose founder was Norman de Hieland.

In 1562, a certain gentleman called Alan Bellingham bought the house and turned the structure into a gentleman's residence, (1570-1590). In 1688, the year of the Glorious Revolution in England, when James II abdicated, his Privy Purse and Keeper of the B uckhounds, Col James Grahme, bought Levens. Col. Grahme married Dorothy Howard who was a maid of honour to Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II. Together, they transformed Levens into a house of exquisite taste.

The front door opens directly into the Elizabethan Great Hall. The panelling is in a rich deep brown local oak. The ornate plaster work on the ceiling and coat of arms of Elizabeth I were worked on by Italian craftsmen. On display here, mounted on the wa ll, is an Arabian saddle embroidered with crimson velvet which belonged to Elphi Bey, who hosted Napoleon during his ill-fated Egyptain campaign in 1798 in Alexandria. Also exhibited is HMS Hotspur, a model ship presented by John Chapman, carpenter on th e Hotspur, to Admiral Josceline Percy, Hal Bagot's ancestor who served as a midshipman with Lord Nelson on HMS Victory.

The main drawing room is richly panelled and the magnificent overmantel dates to 1595. The furniture is mainly of the Charles II and William and Mary periods.The harpsichord is dated 1773 and the gilded candelabra are by Thomas Chippendale.

The harpsichord is a keyboard instrument with strings plucked by quill or leather points and popular in the 16th to the 18th century. In the small drawing room, there is a remarkable overmantel with carvings depicting the four seasons, the four elements and the five senses.

In this room are showcases containing an Elizabethan bone spoon and an 18th-century bone fork found when the house was being rewired, and a bowl reputedly used by Sir Francis Drake.

A favourite niece of the Duke of Wellington was married to Sir Charles Bagot and many items relating to Napoleon and Wellington were given to her by her uncle. These include a Sevres service set made as a gift for Napolean's mother, a cloak clasp of inte rlocking bees removed from Napoleon's coach after the Battle of Waterloo, his writing blotter and a set of Dresden china figures of Napoleon and his Marshals. All the treasures are individually labelled.

In the Redman Dressing Room is displayed the earliest English patchwork dated circa I708 which was worked by Col. Grahme's daughters using Indian printed cottons, very rare at that time. The import of these cottons was forbidden by an Act of Parliament i n 1701. Therefore, the smallest scraps were precious and incorporated are five different types of patches, most prominent being the cross-shaped and octagonal.

Exhibited in the museum room are water colours of Levens' Gardens and Park by Peter de Wint (1784-1849). There is also the page's costume worn by Charles Bagot at the coronation of George IV on July 19, 1821.

Another item of interest is the bleeding chair, circa 1690, which was used when blood letting by leeches was the only form of medicine to relieve practically every indisposition until the mid-19th century.

Levens is the only estate to have maintained its historic topiary garden laid out in 1692 by Guillaume Beaumont, gardener to James II. Today there are four gardeners responsible for planting the colourful displays of spring and summer. The complex topiar y shapes are done carefully by hand and the straight sides with the electric trimmer. Levens' Garden has won the prestigious Christie's Historic Houses Association Garden of the Year Award in 1994.

With seven hundred years of continuous habitation at Levens, stories of curses, ghosts and hauntings abound. One such story is of the Grey Lady, an apparition seen quite often on the back drive and on the bridge over the River Kent. This ghost is believe d to be that of a gypsy woman who was refused admission to the house and died of starvation. She threw a curse saying that no son should inherit Levens until the River Kent ceased to flow and a white fawn was born in the park. Strangely, Levens passed co ntinuously through the female line until the birth of Alan Desmond Bagot in 1896, when the river froze over and a white fawn was found in the park.

Levens Hall is open to visitors from April to September.

Fact file

When to go: The best season is April through June.

How to get there: The best bet is to hire a car and drive through the Lake District, stopping at Bed and Breakfast's along the way.

Wallace Arnold offers tours to the Lake District. Bookings can be made through any UK travel agent.Interesting Cumbrian landmarks: Sheep, sheep everywhere, You know it's going to rain when the sheep are squatting and not grazing.

Dry stone walling all along the countryside. Walls built without mortar or cement, put together by hand from natural stones and slates. Though built at the beginning of the 20th century, they stand intact to this day.

Pic.: The topiary garden of Levens Hall during winter