{"id":2403,"date":"2023-07-02T13:09:11","date_gmt":"2023-07-02T13:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=2403"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:22:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:22:35","slug":"yanwath-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/02\/yanwath-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Yanwath Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yanwath Hall \u2013 answers on a postcard!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cumbrian Characters<\/em> is heading off-piste this week, to the lovely county of Devon. With a little mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Namely: why did the writer of this postcard wish to see inside Yanwath Hall?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The handwriting is hard to decipher, but the postcard (which shows Yanwath Hall on the front) is addressed to A L Radford, of Bradninch Manor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was this \u2014(?place?) \u2014 described in Country Life? (\u2018yes\u2019 added in another hand later). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018\u2014 \u2014 exterior, but they wouldn\u2019t let us in\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018\u2014 (?Yorkshire?) now, home on Weds, \u2014 \u2014 \u2014\u2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bradninch Manor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Built by Peter Sainthill in 1547 \u2026.from 1874 to 1976, the Manor House was owned by the Duchy of Cornwall \u2013 the private royal estate currently run by Prince Charles \u2013 before being sold several times from the 1980s onwards. When up for sale in 2020<\/a>, it was valued at \u00a32.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, who was A L Radford?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Arthur Locke Radford was born in 1862. His parents, Daniel and Louisa, both look to have been very much rooted in Devon. He married twice, and again, both wives were from Devon families. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

He lived in high circles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales will lunch with Mr and Mrs Radford at the Manor House, Bradninc, on Tuesday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prince will lunch with Mr A Locke Radford, the tenant of the manor house. Mr Radford\u2026 is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries\u2026<\/em><\/p>\nWestern Morning News
<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

We regret to announce the death, which took place on Sunday, of Mr Arthur Locke Radford\u2026 deceased was the fourth son of the late Mr Daniel Radford, of Lydford and Mount Tavy, Tavistock, and a brother of Lady Radford JP, of Pennsylvania Park, Exeter\u2026. Deceased was 63.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n1925, November 17, Tuesday<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, why Yanwath Hall?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Well, Visit Cumbria\u2019s description<\/a>\u00a0may be the simple answer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

…a splendidly preserved low 14th Century pele tower and a 15th Century hall, reputed to be the finest manorial hall in England. It has changed little since the 16th Century. The tower has a tunnel-vaulted ground floor, and at the top battlements stepped up at the corners. The first floor has Elizabethan five-light mullioned and transomed windows. The hall is distinguished by a bay window with a frontage of three lights.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If had featured in Country Life magazine in 1920, it may simply have been that Arthur Locke Radford was interested in as an antiquarian. And had suggested to whoever wrote the postcard: \u201cWhy don\u2019t you drop by when you are up there?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A large party of visitors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yanwath Hall also caught the attention of Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 A year after \u2018our\u2019 postcard, the Penrith Observer<\/em> records how the society held two days of excursions in North Westmorland and East Cumberland. A sub-head says \u2018500 members,\u2019 but it seems \u2018only\u2019 about 110 took part in the excursions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of these was to Yanwath Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018Mr. C. Bird, the tenant, had given permission for the exterior of the Hall to he examined, but it was not convenient for such a large party to wander through the ancient house. \u2018<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Mr. R. Morton Rigg, architect, Penrith, read a short paper. in which he said it was regretted that they were not allowed inside, there were many points of interest which were difficult to describe.\u2019\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Mr Morton Rigg instead spoke about the name Yanwath:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018We find the name written Yanwath. Yanewath, Eanwith, Eanwath, Yanewich, and in other ways. \u2026Another form in Yemonwath –the wath over the Yamon, which is still the local pronunciation.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Christopher Bird<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can hardly blame Christopher Bird for not wanting dozens of visitors traipsing through his home, peering at the architecture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why he refused out postcard writer permission, we can never know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1921, Christopher Bird would have been 54. Born at King\u2019s Meaburn, he had married wife Ann Hodgson in 1904, and had already been at Yanwath Hall some years by then \u2013 he was there in 1881, aged 14, with his father Thomas Bird, 77, the farmer, and his mother Betsy. Thomas Bird had taken the tenancy just a few months before the 1881 census, when previous tenant Arthur Graham moved to Kirbythore Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R Morton Rigg is presumably Richard Morton Rigg, of Egerton House, Penrith, who died in 1951. Why he his middle name was Morton isn\u2019t immediately obvious. In that there is no obvious connection with (the location) Morton Rigg, Carlisle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yanwath Hall \u2013 answers on a postcard! Cumbrian Characters is heading off-piste this week, to the lovely county of Devon. With a little mystery. Namely: why did the writer of this postcard wish to see inside Yanwath Hall? The handwriting is hard to decipher, but the postcard (which shows Yanwath Hall on the front) is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[282],"class_list":["post-2403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cumbria-history","tag-yanwath"],"yoast_head":"\nYanwath Hall - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yanwath Hall wasn't open to visitors in 1920 \u2013 even ones with connections in high places. 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