Foxcroft
Shaun Castle 02 July 2007
Foxcroft is a fine example of Victorian domestic architecture, gardens and grounds concealed within a woodland shelterbelt and accessed by a long sweeping rhododendron drive. Located a short distance from the Hodbarrow peninsula, and the coastal habitat of Haverigg Haws, Foxcroft has the Black Combe massif to the north, and the duned beaches of Haverigg to the south, a landscape evocatively described by the poet Norman Nicholson.
A product of late 19th century prosperity, Foxcroft was built in 1884 for John Fox, associate of William Brockbank and deputy at the family-run Bank Springs Brewery, Kirkstanton. Alongside mining and shipping interests, the Brockbank family developed a profitable brewery dynasty, owning between twenty and thirty licenced properties in the Millom area until the 1950’s, when the estate was dispersed upon the death of the last surviving heir, Arthur Fox-Brockbank.
The house is of sandstone construction under a high-pitched slate roof, with tall corniced stacks, timber work to gable ends, pitched dormer, decorative string course, label moulds, ridge tiling and finials. A red sandstone tablet to fenestration has initials JF and the date 1884.
Foxcroft is for sale through Lakes & Country 01228 516409.
