Town End Boathouse
TOWN END BOATHOUSE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1271460
- Date first listed:
- 02-Mar-2001
- List Entry Name:
- Town End Boathouse
- Statutory Address:
- TOWN END BOATHOUSE
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1271460
- Date first listed:
- 02-Mar-2001
- List Entry Name:
- Town End Boathouse
- Statutory Address 1:
- TOWN END BOATHOUSE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- TOWN END BOATHOUSE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Westmorland and Furness (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Lakes
- National Park:
- Lake District
- National Grid Reference:
- NY 34173 06798
Details
LAKES
NY 30 NW
1945/7/10001
02-MAR-01
GRASMERE
Town End Boathouse
II
Boat house. Dated 1843, a rebuilding of an earlier boathouse. For William Pearson, astronomer . (d.1847 ). Rubble Lakeland stone, with quoined corners, decorative barge boards and a Westmorland slate roof covering, laid to diminishing courses.
EXTERIOR: West elevation facing Grasmere, with wide, semi-circular arch forming boat entrance to covered mooring at ground floor level. Narrow slate string course forms cill to central upper floor 3 -light window , the central light taller than the flanking lights. The window is set beneath a stepped hood mould. Above, oversailing verges carried on the exposed ends of purlins and wall plates. South side elevation with single gabled dormer rising through the eaves. Single-storey east elevation to road with central doorway with studded double doors beneath a hood mould. Above, a plaque which reads " W. P. 1843 ".Narrow projecting wing to north with circular chimney.
INTERIOR: Narrow boat-shaped mooring with coursed rubble flanking walls incorporating landing steps. Walkways on either side of the mooring lead to twin flights of steps to upper level.
HISTORY: William Pearson attended Hawkshead Grammar School at the same time as William Wordsworth, and became a curate and rector. He later became the owner of a private school in East Sheen, Surrey, where he founded an observatory. He established a reputation as an astronomer, but also some notoriety as the owner of the boathouse, which caused considerable offence to his former school contemporary, Wordsworth, who wrote criticizing the first boathouse, describing it as " a tasteless thing in itself " and " utterly out of place " The rebuilt structure was considered by the poet to be an improvement "not now, per se, an ugly building, however obtrusive it may be "
A small lakeside boathouse, built by William Pearson, astronomer, in 1843, and the cause of ongoing irritation to his former school contemporary, William Wordsworth who considered it to be obtrusive. The boathouse was a manifestation of the growing recreational appreciation and use of the Lakes in the mid-C19.
Listing NGR: NY3417306798
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 487494
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 11-Jul-2026 at 00:43:14.
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All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.