Cragside

About this place

Cragside stands above the town of Rothbury in Northumberland, built as a country retreat for William Armstrong, the Victorian engineer and arms manufacturer.

It holds the distinction of being the first house in the world lit by hydroelectric power, generated from lakes and dams Armstrong built across the estate.

The architect Richard Norman Shaw transformed an original shooting lodge into a turreted Tudor Revival mansion between 1869 and 1882.

The National Trust has cared for Cragside since 1977, and the grounds still contain the machinery Armstrong used to power his inventions.

History

Armstrong acquired a small shooting lodge on the site between 1862 and 1864, then employed Richard Norman Shaw from 1869 to enlarge it into the dramatic house seen today. In 1887 he became Baron Armstrong of Cragside, the first engineer or scientist to receive a peerage. He and his wife assembled a significant collection of 19th-century British art, much of which remains in the house.

Architecture

Richard Norman Shaw designed the house in the Tudor Revival style, working in two main phases between 1869 and 1882 to turn a modest lodge into a turreted, asymmetrical mansion.

Worth knowing

William Armstrong invented the hydraulic crane and the Armstrong gun, and used the same engineering ingenuity at home, powering a water-driven laundry, dishwasher, dumb waiter and rotisserie from dams built in the grounds.

Gardens & grounds

The estate's man-made lakes and extensive planting, laid out largely to serve Armstrong's hydraulic schemes, now form a significant rock garden and wooded landscape open to visitors.

Facilities