Qualla: Isel Hall

Isel Hall: Introduction

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

An English pele tower belongs on the south bank of a river. The rule is so consistent across the border country that exceptions stand out. Isel Hall stands on the north bank of the River Derwent, which appears at first to put it on the wrong side of any sensible defence. The geography of medieval Cumberland explains it. A dense forest once stretched between Isel, Uldale, and Wigton, with no roads through that marauding Scots could use. The only practical attack routes were the old Roman road from Carlisle and Wigton down to Cockermouth, or galleys rowed up the Derwent from landings at Allonby or Flimby. Both came in from the south. The pele tower at Isel sits, after all, in exactly the right place.

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Isel Hall: From Engayne to Leigh

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The recorded history of Isel begins in the reign of Henry II, when Alan, the son of Waltheof, granted the demesnes of Isel, Redmain, and Blindcrake to a Norman lord named Randulph d'Engayne. His granddaughter Ada married Simon de Morville, lord of Burgh by Sands. After several ro...

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Isel Hall: The Lawson Era

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Lawsons traced their descent to John Lawson of Fawkegrave in Yorkshire in the early thirteenth century. The Sir Wilfrid Lawson who acquired Isel through Maud Redmain was born in 1545 and died in 1632 at the age of eighty-seven. He had been educated at Trinity College, Cambrid...

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Isel Hall: The Pele Tower

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The most striking feature of Isel Hall is the pele tower, the oldest part of the building together with the Great Hall. The exact date of construction is not recorded. What is known is that in 1387, an army of Scots under the banners of the dukes of Douglas and Fife raided and ca...

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Isel Hall: The Two Women Who Saved It

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When Sir Hilton Lawson, the 4th Baronet of Brayton, died in the twentieth century, Isel Hall was bought privately by Margaret Austen-Leigh of Fareham in Hampshire, a first cousin of the previous owner. In 1941, Margaret married Richard Austen-Leigh, the great nephew of Jane Auste...

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Isel Hall: An Unusual Facade

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The facade of the hall has a curious ornament that exists in only one other English country house. The line of the eaves is broken at regular intervals by an open arch rib superimposed on top of the wall. The feet of the arches sink just below the eaves and rise above the slates ...

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