Derwent Island House

Derwent Island was owned by Fountains Abbey and used by monks, but with the dissolution of the monasteries, it became property of the Crown in 1539.

The German miners built a camp on the island where they kept animals, grew vegetables and brewed beer.

[3] Pocklington held annual regattas on the lake at which he fired off his cannon and the small fort used for mock battles.

Henry Cowper Marshall purchased the island in 1844 and employed architect Anthony Salvin to add east and west wings and a three-storey tower to the house.

[5] William Wordsworth was upset by the building, feeling it spoiled the view, and described Pocklington as "a native of Nottinghamshire, who played strange pranks by his buildings and plantations upon Vicar's Island, in Derwentwater, which his admiration, such as it was, of the country, and probably a wish to be a leader in a new fashion, had tempted him to purchase.