Ruskin's View, Kirkby Lonsdale

Ruskin’s View

Ruskin’s View is Kirkby Lonsdale’s most famous landmark and you simply can’t visit without seeing it.

Follow the path through the churchyard of St Mary’s in the centre of town and you will find yourself at Church Brow, a walkway and viewpoint looking down onto the River Lune.

Every day the view looks different yet for centuries it has been the same; a breathtaking panorama of the Lune Valley and Underley Hall.

The scene was painted by English artist JMW Turner in 1822. The picture so impressed the 19th century painter, poet and theorist John Ruskin, that he wrote: ‘I do not know in all my country, still less in France or Italy, a place more naturally divine.’

In 1875 he called it ‘one of the loveliest views in England, therefore in the world!’ And it is just as lovely today – go and see for yourself.

Ruskin's View Kirkby Lonsdale
Ruskin’s View at dusk