Barrow House, Cumbria

Barrow House is a late 18th century mansion situated on the eastern shore of Derwentwater in Borrowdale within the Lake District National Park, in the county of Cumbria, England. The house is a Grade II listed building which since the time of its construction has had various uses, it was originally a private dwelling and has since served as a hotel, a youth hostel run by the YHA and is now an independent hostel.

Construction work began on Barrow House in 1787, the house being built by Joseph Pocklington (1736–1817). Pocklington was the son of an affluent Nottinghamshire banker and was viewed locally as a wealthy eccentric. He had inherited a large fortune at the age of 26 which allowed him to lead a life of luxury. In 1778 he purchased Derwent Island House on Derwent Isle, the most northerly of the islands on Derwentwater. Pocklington constructed various buildings on Derwent Isle which upset many of the local population, with William Wordsworth describing them as “mere puerilities”. In 1798 he purchased the Bowder Stone and built a cottage nearby for a guide, erected a ladder and cleared away the stones from around it, earning criticism from the poet Robert Southey. In 1796 Pocklington sold Derwent Island House to General William Peachy and moved to the newly completed Barrow House.

Barrow House cost £1,655 to build and was initially called Barrow Cascade House because Pocklington had created a 108 foot high waterfall behind the house (to compete with the nearby Lodore Falls) by employing workmen to divert and channel a stream. The cascade was generally well received, although Samuel Taylor Coleridge who had little positive to say about Pocklington, called it “the commonplace cascade at King Pocky’s”. Shortly after completion a folly was built between the rear of the house and the cascade, this took the form of a small hermitage. Pocklington hoped that this would be a tourist attraction and he offered payment for a local to play the part of the hermit, an offer that was not taken up, and the folly was never occupied. The early part of the 19th century saw alterations to the house with side extensions being added and the windows altered.

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