SIZERGH CASTLE

Sizergh Castle, four miles south of Kendal, has been the home for Strickland’s since 1239, when Sir William de Strickland, my 21^st great-grandfather married Elizabeth Deincourt. Today was mine and Marty’s much needed day off from walking, and we spent part of it visiting the Strickland ancestral home.

We left for the 20 minute ride to Sizergh in the middle of the morning in a cab. Mareks, a young man from Latvia was our driver. We all enjoyed the 20 minute drive, talking about the Latvian players in the US NBA and NHL, the Latvian hockey team, how things were like in Latvia “in the Soviet period”, and how  Mareks is working to make life better for his children and their mother, here with him in the UK. As it turned out, Mareks was also the driver to pick us up from Sizergh, and we continued the conversation. There are always unexpected pleasures in these trips. Meeting Mareks was one of them. Mareks is now Facebook friends with Marty and me. His Facebook post of Vladimir Putin with a top knot is special.

I wasn’t sure want to expect at Sizergh. I was really impressed. It’s a large castle on beautiful grounds. This being a Saturday on a holiday weekend, things were busy. Sizergh is a big tourist draw. Rightfully.

Like many of the historic estates in England, Sizergh was deeded to the National Trust in the 1950’s, when the family couldn’t afford to maintain it. (Downton Abbey, anyone?). The National Trust has done a great job of keeping it up and making it available to the public.  The Strickland family continues to maintain quarters in part of the house not open to the public.

The first area we entered was the oldest part of the castle. It consisted of a very large room and a pele tower. This was the fortified part. The tower served multiple defensive purposes. First, it was tall enough to allow signal fires to be seen from other towers in the area, an early warning system for the region. Seond, it was fortified enough and strong enough to hold off raiders and passing armies warring back and forth in this region. Northern England was the center of conflict between the Scottish and English armies for centuries.  The original castle was large enough to protect the Strickland family and the families from the surrounding village, who would gather in the castle when the signal fires burned.

The interior of the castle is also impressive; 3 floors of rooms all fully furnished, largely with orginal items. Walls not covered with tapestries are covered oil paintings of Strickland’s through the centuries.

I’d like to go back to Sizergh and spend more time, with my children.

I learned a few things about my family tree at Sizergh, and left with a few things I need to confirm.

My family tree and the tree of the Strickland’s who continued to live in the castle diverged after Walter Strickland, who married Alice Hamorton in 1536. Their eldest son, Thomas, and his successors are the line that are still in Sizergh. Another of their sons, William, is my progenitor, and his great-great grandson, Matthew, emigrated to Virginia. I need to know more about these generations.

I posted an image of the Strickland family crest earlier. It’s three scallop shells on a black field.  I knew that the scallop shell was also the symbol of the religious pilgrimage to Santigo de Compostella in Spain. What I didn’t realize was that the significance of the scallop in the family crest is that the family made that pilgrimage, on the Camino de Santiago. I made that walk, along with Marty, three years ago.

The castle contains the Strickland archives, but they’re not generally available. The guides suggested that I write to Henry, the current Strickland in residence, and he’d likely make them available to me. Should have done that. Next time.

Finally, a generation back, the Strickland family did not have a male heir. The daughter married Henry Hornyold, and he and their offspring have assumed the hyphenated name Hornyold-Strickland.

I’ve thus confirmed on this visit that I am not a Hornyold-Strickland. Genealogically speaking.

Where's Waldo?