Akay House

The site Akay House, near Sedbergh in Cumbria, was originally a group of buildings that were counted as part of Millthrop Community that has roots in the early 1400s. In the mid 1820s, James Upton who was son of the owner of Millthrop Mill bought the buildings of Millthrop and built a stately Georgian manor house there. Only three decades later his fortunes declined so he sold the manor to the local Rowlandson family, who only held the property until 1893 when it was purchased by Charles Edward Taylor - a local chemist. He also bought more land adjoining the house and greatly expanded it, as well as creating large formal gardens including an Orangery. Mr. Taylor died in 1924 and the family moved away, selling a lot of the silver, paintings and other furnishings from the manor two years later. For twelve years the building was left to deteriorate. Sedbergh School (a famous Public School) bought the entire estate, which being extremely wealthy and already owning vast tracts of land in and around Sedbergh they could afford to do. Strangely, instead of renovating the manor they sold off all the interior mahogany woodwork including the staircase! After 1938 Akay House was pulled down. A pleasant wood now covers the site. If you walk through it and veer off the footpath you can find various relics such as the window arch shown in my picture. Mosaic floors can even be glimpsed in amongst the brush. When we're home I'll add a Blipfolio category of other pictures from the site. Akay Lodge, the former gate-house, still stands by the road. Due to the limitations of mobile broadband and time whilst away, I'm unable to reply to comments or comment on your journals at the moment. So please only leave a comment here if you don't mind not hearing back.