Abbot Hall is a Grade I listed Georgian building and has been part of Kendal’s history for over 250 years.
It did not begin as an art gallery, but as a family home that had fallen into disrepair.
Built in 1759, Abbot Hall was the family home of Colonel George Wilson of Dallam Tower. It changed hands several times before it was sold in 1897 to Kendal Borough Council who wanted to transform the grounds into a public park.
With the building largely neglected, Abbot Hall deteriorated and by the 1950s it faced certain demolition. Determined to save this iconic building and secure its long-term future, a group of local people came together to form a charitable trust to raise enough money to save this historic house. It was finally restored and reopened as an art gallery in September 1962.
The gallery closed in February 2020 for essential renovation works, the project included upgrading the Grade I listed building’s electrics, flood resilience and redecoration. It was project managed by South Lakeland District Council (now Westmorland and Furness Council) who owns the building. Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (CLEP) provided funding of £495,000 towards the refurbishment project through the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund.
The gallery reopened 20 May 2023 with a fresh direction that centres on the exploration of landscape, ecology and identity. As part of Lakeland Arts, the gallery runs an immersive learning programme with schools and local community groups, encouraging people of all ages and backgrounds to explore different forms of art.
The collection
At the start, Abbot Hall didn’t have a collection, so it began mainly through loans and gifts and grew quickly through funding and important bequests.
Today our internationally significant art collection is one of the largest of its kind in the North. Spanning historic to contemporary art, over 50% of the collection is focused on landscape. The collection includes over 3,000 works on paper with watercolours by JMW Turner and John Ruskin and contemporary works by Charmaine Watkiss. There is a strong Modern British collection including works by Lucian Freud, Bridget Riley, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, Paula Rego and the work of European Modernist Kurt Schwitters, created during his final years in Cumbria and with masterpieces from Cumbrian born George Romney, one of England’s most sought-after portrait painters of his day.
Through new approaches to exhibitions and engagement we are enabling greater connection to artworks, using our collection to inspire, inform and connect our communities. With the collection at the heart of its programme, the gallery will be fruitful ground for new ideas, community conversations, wellbeing and research.
Explore Abbot Hall, its exhibitions, collections and events will via the Bloomberg Connects app.
