A Brief History
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The Crofton Estate goes back to the times of King John.
In King John's time, the manor of Crofton was the property of Sir Gilbert, son of Sir Gilbert de Dundraw, from whom it passed, by marriage, to Crofton, the father of Sir John Crofton, whose daughter transferred all their family estates to her husband, Isold Brisco.
For several centuries the estate , which extended to 3000 acres was the ancestoral home of the Brisco family.
Mannix and Whellan’s History, Gazeteer and Directory of Cumberland, published in 1847 says of the Crofton estate:-
"the deer park contains between 140 and 150 acres, inclosed with a wall near eight feet in height," that "in the park is a fish pond of twelve acres, stored with carp and tench,"
The Estate fell on hard times in the 1920s and eventually was broken up.
Unfortunately the great house was demolished in the 1950s, but thankfully Cumbria County Council leased part of what remained of the Estate to the Crofton Trust, a private Charity with an educational remit.
The remains of the estate includes the one-time estate manager`s house and offices, a 2 acre walled garden, 20 acres deciduous woodland, 6.5 acres of agricultural land, a Georgian style stable block, and of course the magnificent Crofton Lake.
In 1991, Carlisle & District Coarse Angling Club took out a lease on the lake and over the next few years deepened the shallow lake, planted thousands of young trees and planted the margins with reeds, flag iris and lillies. The result with a lot of help from Mother Nature is the beautiful place that we can all enjoy today.