The protection of a Grade-II listed property in West Cumbria is being celebrated along with a host of other historic buildings across the country.

As 2021 draws to a close, Historic England has pulled together a range of highlights from nearly 300 sites across the country – including Ingleberg Victorian villa in Beckermet – which have been protected through listing or scheduling in the past year.

The detached Victorian villa has interiors and decoration that have survived virtually intact since they were created in 1900.

Notable resident Thomas Tuohy CBE (1917-2008) worked in the nuclear industry at nearby Windscale (Sellafield nuclear site) and is recognised for bravely taking charge of efforts to extinguish the fire at Windscale in 1957 – averting nuclear disaster.

His son, Dr Thomas Tuohy FSA, took over the house from 2005 and managed a restoration project which employed skilled local builders, joiners and carpenters and craftspeople to sensitively restore many of the original period features, some of which had be stored in a nearby barn since the 1950s. The London-based artist Francis Martin restored the house’s distinctive stencilling.

Ingleberg was built for the Robley family in 1900. In its 120-year history, it has only been occupied by the Robleys and the Tuohys.

The house was designed by regional architect Joseph Smithson Moffat of Whitehaven.

Its exterior and footprint are large unaltered, but it is the interiors that are most striking.

Thanks to the care of the Robley and Tuohy families, Ingleberg retains almost all its original fixtures and fittings including its geometric tiled floor, plaster cornices, and joinery, from four panel doors to picture rails, and skirting boards.

Many original and unusual fittings remain, including fixed drawing room seating with Art Nouveau glass panels; original light fittings and light switches; carved chimney pieces in the drawing room and dining room, and servant bell pushes.

Resident of Beckermet and Cumbria County Councillor, David Southward, described Ingleberg as a prominent building in the village.

He said: “It’s a spookey, stone house. The current owner, Mr Tuohy is a nice chap.

“His late father was a chief engineer at Sellafield in the 50s and was personally instrumental in putting out a fire that could have been the worst nuclear incident in the UK.”