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Belle Isle (Windermere)

AC with 0 elementsCumbria geography stubsGrade II* listed parks and gardens in CumbriaGrade I listed buildings in CumbriaIslands of the Lake District
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Belle Isle Windermere map
Belle Isle Windermere map

Belle Isle is the largest of 18 islands on Windermere, a mere in the English Lake District, and the only one ever to have been inhabited. It is 1 km in length. The Roman governor at Ambleside built a villa on the island. In 1250 it was the seat of the district's Lord of the Manor. It was also a Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War. Island House was built in 1774 to designs by John Plaw. It is unusual in that it is circular in plan, built of brick, three floors high with a four column portico; it draws closely on the Pantheon, Rome. The house was sold along with the island to the wealthy Curwen family who renamed the island after their daughter, Isabella. It was then sold on to Isabella Curwen by her family in 1781 for £1,720 and was permanently renamed after her. The descendants of Isabella and her husband John Christian Curwen lived on the island until 1993.It is called 'Bell Island' not 'Isabella Island' because of use of the shortened form of Isabella- Bella, which lost the 'a' to become 'Bell', spelt 'Belle' by the Ordnance Survey map of 1925 over the years. It was known locally as the Great Island or Long Holme and formerly known as Longholm, before its renaming in 1774.In 1996 (some records suggest 23 December 1994), Belle Isle House suffered serious damage following a large fire. However, it was repaired and is once again a place of residence.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Belle Isle (Windermere) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Belle Isle (Windermere)
South Lakeland Windermere

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 54.361944444444 ° E -2.9344444444444 °
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Address


LA23 1BG South Lakeland, Windermere
England, United Kingdom
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Storrs Hall
Storrs Hall

Storrs Hall is a hotel on the banks of Windermere in Storrs in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. The hotel, a Grade II* listed Georgian mansion, is also home to the National Trust-owned folly the "Temple" on the end of a stone jetty on Windermere. Situated in the Lake District, Storrs Hall sits alongside the Windermere. It stands in seventeen acres of grounds and woodland.The mansion was first built in the 1790s by Sir John Legard, a Yorkshire landowner. After 14 years of owning the building, Sir John Legard became increasingly crippled by gout, and eventually sold Storrs Hall in 1804. The new owner of Storrs Hall was John Bolton, born in Ulverston in 1756, who was a rich man and one of the wealthiest men of his class. He extended the mansion and created a park. John Bolton was a Cumbrian who made a fortune as a Liverpool slave trader. He bought Storrs Hall with some of the proceeds and used the residence to entertain in style, holding regattas on the lake which were attended by Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott amongst others.Elizabeth Bolton died in 1848 and the hall passed to her nephew Reverend Thomas Staniforth. Thomas was the son of former Lord Mayor of London Samuel Staniforth and grandson of Thomas Staniforth, also former mayor and slave trader. Staniforth moved into the hall in 1859 after retiring from his parish and lived there until he passed in 1887. As he never had any children the estate was sold off in lots.Between 1940 and 1944, Storrs Hall (which had previously been used both as a girls' school and as a youth hostel) played host to the staff and boys of St Hugh's School, Woodhall Spa, who were evacuated from their own buildings amidst the airfields of Lincolnshire during World War II.Today, Storrs Hall is a 4 star hotel.