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Abbot Hall is an exquisite gallery in the north west of England on the edge of the Lake District. Works of art can be enjoyed in this beautiful Georgian villa, drawn both from its important collections and the changing series of exhibitions. The gallery also has an innovative programme of educational activities, lectures and events which you can discover more about on this site. The story of Abbot Hall goes back to Norman times when Ivo Taillebois gave, between 1090 and 1097, the Church of Kendal, with its land - the Kirkland - to the newly founded Benedictine Abbey of St. Mary at York. That part of southern Kendal round about the Parish Church is still known as Kirkland: the northern boundary is Blind Beck, flowing between Abbot Hall and the park. Originally the parish was served by two rectors, who each held a mediety of the living, but in 1301, because of their impoverished state, the Abbot and convent were given a licence to appropriate the Church of Kendal; they appointed a vicar their deputy. At some time during the Middle Ages, a dwelling - soon known as Abbot Hall - was erected for the Abbot near the church. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1535-9), this building passed into secular hands. In 1588, Myles Philipson gave part of the land belonging to Abbot Hall, with a house standing on it, as a site for a new building for Kendal Grammar School (now partly used by the Museum of Lakeland Life). From then until the middle of the eighteenth century, the names of various families, including Stirzaker, Baitman, Wood, Dixon, Harrison, and Benson occur in Kendal parish registers as 'of Abbot Hall'.
Tags:  Abbot Hall Art Gallery Lake District art galleries English Lakes abbot hall Abbott Hall Kendal Lake District museums paintings Lake District watercolours Cumbria exhibitions contemporary art British art Lucian Freud Bridget Riley J.M.W.Turner Ruskin Tate Schwitters Romney Gillow de Loutherbourg Ben Nicholson Constable Blackwell arts and crafts craft Edward Lear John Harden Collingwood Barbara Hepworth