Venue Type & Location
Performance Spaces
Overview
Situated on rising ground near the main road N from Lancaster to Kendal, Beetham Hall was a fortified limestone manor house built on an H-shaped plan.
Most of the curtain wall as well as the converted hall block on the S side remains.
Performance History
A probable performance venue. No Beetham household records survive but a minstrel under Sir Edward Beetham's patronage performed at York in the mid-15th c.
Current Status
History of the Venue
ca. 1340 Tower probably erected by Sir Ralph de Beetham.
ca. 1483-5 Anne, daughter & heir of Roger Beetham, married Sir Robert Middleton of Leighton, into whose family the hall passed.
1644 Taken by General Fairfax; E wing destroyed.
1671 'Betham-hall, a pleasant seat, and hath been a fair house, but now much ruined' (Fleming, Westmorland 11).
later 17th c. Acquired by the Stanleys, Earls of Derby, then the Cliffords, Earls of Westmorland.
1693 Farmhouse on S side of courtyard built.
1767 Acquired by the Wilson family of Dallam Tower.
Record Source
REED York 1.76
Patrons who owned this venue
| Name | Date | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Beetham, Edward | 1415-1472 | Knight |
Bibliographic Sources
- Curwen, John F. The Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North-of-the-Sands. Kendal: Titus Wilson, 1913
- Curwen, John F. 'Beetham Hall.'. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society ns 4 (1904): 225--32.
- Emery, Anthony. Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales 1300–1500. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996--2006
- Fleming, Daniel. Description of the County of Westmoreland, by Sir Daniel Fleming of Rydal, A. D. 1671. London and Kendal: Bernard Quaritch & T. Wilson, 1882
- Hugill, Robert. Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland. Newcastle upon Tyne: Frank Graham, 1977
- King, David J. Cathcart. Castellarium Anglicanum: An Index and Bibliography of the Castles in England, Wales and the Islands. 2 vols. Millwood, NY, London and Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus International Publications, 1983
- Mackenzie, James D. The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure. 2 vols. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1896
- Perriam, D.R., and J. Robinson. The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria:
An Illustrated Gazetteer and Research Guide. Kendal: Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 1998 29: - Pettifer, Adrian. English Castles: A Guide by Counties. Woodbridge: The Boydell P, 1995
- Pevsner, Nikolaus. Cumberland and Westmorland. Harmondsworth, Midd: Penguin Books, 1967
- Robinson, John Martin. A Guide to the Country Houses of the North West. London: Constable, 1991
- Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England. An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Westmorland. London: HMSO, 1936