Bowness Conservation Area

Why is Bowness special?

Bowness is an historic village with origins as an early Norse fishing and trading settlement in a sheltered bay on the east side of Windermere lake. Special qualities include:

• Rural setting of the town at the foot of low-lying hills beside Windermere lake in view of distant high fells;
• Early haphazard layout of Lowside, the vernacular core of the town;
• Informal development of the town around two ‘squares’ (Queen’s Square and Royal Square) located on a broad level shelf slightly elevated above the lake;
• Attractive views across Windermere lake;
• Good examples of typical provincial Victorian and Edwardian commercial and residential architecture embellished with period details such as decorative bargeboards, bay windows, dormers, finials, ridge tiles;
• Architectural and historic interest of the area’s buildings, including 13 listed buildings dating from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and numerous significant unlisted buildings;
• The green open space and planted copse within the grounds of The Belsfield;
• Trees and groups of trees that enhance the setting of historic buildings and soften the streetscene, notably in the grounds of The Belsfield, and individual trees in an urban setting in Queen’s Square and Royal Square;
• Prevalent use of local stone, reflecting the underlying geology of the area, used for walling, roof slates and boundary walls;
• Small items of street furniture that add to Bowness-on-Windermere’s local identity such as iron street name signs, ER VII letter boxes, stone boundary walls, wall plaques and datestones;