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Swarthmoor Hall, Ulverston
Swarthmoor Hall
Swarthmoor Meeting House
locality:-   Swarthmoor
civil parish:-   Ulverston (formerly Lancashire)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   buildings
locality type:-   museum
locality type:-   meeting house
locality type:-   quaker meeting
coordinates:-   SD28187729
1Km square:-   SD2877
10Km square:-   SD27

photograph
BMJ72.jpg (taken 11.7.2006)  
photograph
BPO62.jpg  Great Hall; panelling by Emma Clarke Abraham, 1910s.
(taken 8.8.2008)  
evidence:-   old map:- Backhouse 1773
placename:-  Swarthmore meeting
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, Map of the Meetings belonging to the Quarterly Meetings of Lancaster, Westmorland, Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and York, scale about 9 miles to 1 inch, by James Backhouse, engraved by Thomas Kitchin, published by James Backhouse, Darlington, Durham, 1773.
image
BKH2Swrt.jpg
labelled:-  "Swarthmore / 5.4"
meeting day Wednesday 
nearby market day Thursday 
item:-  private collection : 224
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old text:- Camden 1789 (Gough Additions) 
placename:-  Swartmoor
source data:-   Book, Britannia, or A Chorographical Description of the Flourishing Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by William Camden, 1586, translated from the 1607 Latin edition by Richard Gough, published London, 1789.
image CAM2P143, button  goto source
Page 143:-  "..."
"Swartmoor was so called from Martin Swartz, who encamped here with his Germans, who came over with Simnel 1487, at the pile of Foudrey; and here George Fox and his followers first shewed themselves in this county 1652."
evidence:-   descriptive text:- Ford 1839 (3rd edn 1843) 
placename:-  Swarth Moor Hall
placename:-  Swarthmoor Hall
source data:-   Guide book, A Description of Scenery in the Lake District, by Rev William Ford, published by Charles Thurnam, Carlisle, by W Edwards, 12 Ave Maria Lane, Charles Tilt, Fleet Street, William Smith, 113 Fleet Street, London, by Currie and Bowman, Newcastle, by Bancks and Co, Manchester, by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, and by Sinclair, Dumfries, 1839.
image FD01P005, button  goto source
Page 5:-  "..."
"A short distance out of the town is Swarth Moor Hall, embosomed in shady sycamores, once the seat of that Judge Fell, whose widow married George Fox. The Friends have a Meeting-house near it, with this inscription over the door, 'Ex dono, G. F. 1688.'"
image FD01P156, button  goto source
Page 156:-  "..."
"[Ulverston] ... In this neighbourhood ... Swarthmoor Hall, once the property of George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends."
evidence:-   old map:- Ford 1839 map
placename:-  Swarthmoor Hall
source data:-   Map, uncoloured engraving, Map of the Lake District of Cumberland, Westmoreland and Lancashire, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, published by Charles Thurnam, Carlisle, and by R Groombridge, 5 Paternoster Row, London, 3rd edn 1843.
image
FD02SD37.jpg
"Swarthmoor Hall"
item:-  JandMN : 100.1
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old map:- Garnett 1850s-60s H
placename:-  Swarthmoor Hall
source data:-   Map of the English Lakes, in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, 1850s-60s.
image
GAR2SD27.jpg
"Swarthmoor Ha."
block, building 
item:-  JandMN : 82.1
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, black and white, Swarthmoor Hall, Ulverston, Lancashire, by Herbert Bell, photographer, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.
image  click to enlarge
HB0719.jpg
internegative at lower left:-  "H. Bell"
stamped on reverse:-  "HERBERT BELL / Photographer / AMBLESIDE"
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS383
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   database:- Listed Buildings 2010
placename:-  Swarthmoor Hall
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"SWARTHMOOR HALL / / SWARTHMOOR HALL LANE / ULVERSTON / SOUTH LAKELAND / CUMBRIA / II[star] / 460043 / SD2818677293"
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"House. Early C17. Restored late C19 and early C20 after becoming neglected and ruinous. Roughcast with sandstone ashlar dressings and slate roofs. L-plan (with additions in the angle of the 'L' made in 1912). 2 storeys plus a 3rd, attic, storey. The windows have chamfered mullions (some opened out or renewed during restoration) with diamond-leaded lights. The south front has one of 4 lights to the left of the door and ones of 2-3-2 lights to the right, the latter linked by a continuous hoodmould. On the 1st floor there is one of 3 lights with a hood, and ones of 2-3-3 lights linked by a hood. The attic is lit by 3 windows of 3 lights. The door has a chamfered surround with an embattled lintel. Chimney on left-hand gable. The right-hand (east) facade has a canted bay window rising to the full height of the gable of the front range. On the ground and 1st floors it has a 4-light window with transom facing forwards and a similar 2-light window to each side. The attic storey is lit by a stepped window of one light over 3, with hoodmould. To the right on the ground floor there is a narrow chamfered door surround with 2 windows of 2 lights to its right. On the 1st floor there is a chamfered doorway with hoodmould and a lintel carved with lozenge and intersecting patterns and with 2 central spirals. The timber balcony is early C20 and replaces an external stair. To the right there are windows of 3 lights and 2 lights linked by a hood. The attic is lit by a 3-light window. Chimneys on right-hand (rear) gable and at the junction between the rear wing and the front range."
"INTERIOR: much of the interior panelling was restored or constructed in the early C20 by Emma Clarke Abraham. Judge Fell's room in the rear wing includes a fireplace surround which uses timber from a C17 bed. The staircase rises to attic level around a cage of 4 newels infilled with balusters. On the 1st floor the eastern room of the front range is panelled, as is the room in the rear wing which includes a carved fireplace surround. The front attic room has 3 trusses with collars, raised ties, and exposed purlins."
"HISTORICAL NOTE: Swarthmoor Hall was the home of the Fell family, who acquired the estate in the C16. Margaret Fell, wife of Judge Thomas Fell who died in 1658, became a disciple of George Fox in 1652 and Swarthmoor became a centre for Fox's missionary travels. In 1669 the couple married."
evidence:-   old print:- Waugh 1860
placename:-  Swarthmoor Hall
source data:-   Print, engraving, Swarthmoor Hall, Ulverston, Lancashire, published by Alexander Ireland and Co, 22 Market Street, Manchester, 1860.
image  click to enlarge
WU0108.jpg
On p.32 of Over Sands to the Lakes, by Edwin Waugh. 
printed at bottom:-  "SWARTHMOOR HALL."
item:-  Armitt Library : A1082.8
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Jopling 1843
source data:-   Print, Swarthmoor Hall, Ulverston, Lancashire, by Charles M Jopling, published by Whittaker and Co, Ave Maria Lane, London and by Stephen Soulby, Ulverston, Cumberland, 1843.
image  click to enlarge
JP1E28.jpg
On p.180 of a Sketch of Furness and Cartmel, by Charles M Jopling. 
item:-  Armitt Library : A1636.28
Image © see bottom of page

photograph
BPO63.jpg  Candelabrum, Great Hall.
(taken 8.8.2008)  
photograph
BPO64.jpg  Chest, Great Hall.
(taken 8.8.2008)  
photograph
BPO65.jpg  Judge Fell's study; panelling by Emma Clarke Abraham, 1910s.
(taken 8.8.2008)  
photograph
BPO66.jpg  Margaret and Thomas Fell's bedroom; also known as Fell's Office where Judge Fell did business.
(taken 8.8.2008)  
photograph
BPO67.jpg  Cradle, Margaret and Thomas Fell's bedroom:-
"AA / 1690" (taken 8.8.2008)  
photograph
BPO68.jpg  Margaret Fell's room, or the Lodging Room.
(taken 8.8.2008)  
photograph
BPO69.jpg  Known as George Fox's room. The travelling be dismantles, made of lignum vitae it weighs enough to need two horses to carry it. It was given him by plantation owners when he was travelling in Barbados, 1670s, and later in the east coast of America.
(taken 8.8.2008)  
photograph
BPO70.jpg  The chest that George Fox is believed to have brought out of Worcester gaol:-
"1675 / G.F" (taken 8.8.2008)  
photograph
BPO71.jpg  Attic room.
(taken 8.8.2008)  
photograph
BPO72.jpg  An impression of George Fox's seal.
(taken 8.8.2008)  
photograph
BPO73.jpg  Four post newel, originally a roof support.
(taken 8.8.2008)  
hearsay:-  
 Elizabethan manor house built about 1586. It became the family home of Judge Thomas Fell, Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster. George Fox visited Thomas Fell and his wife Margaret in 1652, and convinced them by his preaching. The hall was an important centre of development of the Quaker Movement.
During its life the building has been muuch altered and restored and re-restored!
The Religious Society of Friends purchased the hall in 1954. It has been restored as a residential centre, as well as being a historic house.

: 2002: Swarthmoor Hall::: guide book, available onsite
person:-    : Fell, Thomas, Col
person:-    : Fell, Margaret
person:-    : Fox, George
person:-    : Quakers
date:-   1652
person:-    : Religious Society of Friends
date:-   1954
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