Isel Hall

The Elizabethan Range and fortified Pele Tower of Isel Hall dominates the landscape in its magical setting above the River Derwent. From the formal gardens the ground drops down to the river and offers views of the 11th Century Church and Skiddaw.

Continuously inhabited since Norman times it passed from its original occupiers, the Engane family, their heirs and successors by family connections to the present owner. In Elizabethan times they were the Leighs and from 1573-1986 the Lawson family inherited. The last male heir of that family, Sir Wilfred Lawson, died in 1936 when it passed to his nephew, Hilton, and then to Hilton's cousin Mrs Margaret Austen Leigh, who died in 1986 and left it to the present owner.

Visitors are taken on a tour by experienced guides and see all the main rooms in this fascinating and still inhabited house. You will see furniture, paintings and textiles of historic and artistic interest. The Pele tower has recently been restored and rendered and is now nearly the colour it was in the early 18th Century.

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