IChurch · listed 1950St Martin's ChurchOn the list as Parish Church of St MartinPhoto: John Salmon · CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo: Andrew Abbott · CC BY-SA 2.0A−History Grade
History of Bowness-on-Windermere · Historic England
26 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I
Historic England counts them inside Bowness-on-Windermere’s built-up area, 114 for every 10,000 residents. Grade II covers 24 of Bowness-on-Windermere’s listed buildings. 32% of its homes were built before 1919. Bowness-on-Windermere grades A− for history.
Listed buildings
26
114 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
1
exceptional interest
Grade II*
1
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
0
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
32%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Landmarks of Bowness-on-Windermere
Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons and Geograph, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the building’s page or its official list entry.
Through time
Bowness-on-Windermere from 1903 to 1908
2 old photos and postcards, in date order. All public domain, made before 1950.
1903
1908Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server. Each credit opens the image’s page with its full description and history.
The map
Where Bowness-on-Windermere’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park.
Grade IGrade II*
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
26 listed buildings by grade
1 Grade I1 Grade II*24 Grade II
Historic England lists buildings in three grades: Grade I for buildings of exceptional interest (about 2.5% of all listed buildings), Grade II* for particularly important buildings of more than special interest (about 5.8%), and Grade II for buildings of special interest (about 91.7%). Listing protects the whole building, inside and out.
Every entry on the National Heritage List for England whose point lies inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary. One list entry can cover a terrace or a group of buildings.
Grade I
The Grade I listed building in Bowness-on-Windermere
Buildings of exceptional interest, about 2.5% of all listed buildings. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
Grade II*
The Grade II* listed building in Bowness-on-Windermere
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
House · listed 1950Helm Farmhouse, And Helm Farm Cottage, With Attached Barn
What’s protected
Most of Bowness-on-Windermere’s listed buildings are homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas14
Inns, shops & warehouses5
Public & civic buildings2
Memorials, crosses & tombs2
Churches, chapels & priories2
Walls, gates & bridges1
14 entries (54%) are houses, terraces and villas. 2 are churches, chapels and priories, including 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings.
Buildings are sorted by words in each entry’s name (church, gate, inn, memorial…): the list’s open data has no building type. An entry named only by its address counts as a house.
Grade II
24 Grade II listed buildings
Most listed buildings are in this grade, which covers buildings of special interest. Open any building to read its official list entry.
All 24 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Barn to North East of Green FarmhouseBarn to South West of Old FallbarrowBelsfield HotelBordriggs Farmhouse with Attached Farm Buildings, And Separate Barn to SouthBowness BankFallbarrow HallFerney Cross Ferney Green HazelriggFold HeadGreen FarmhouseHole in T'wall Public House, With Attached Buildings to SouthLaurel CottageLodge at the HydroLodge to Fallbarrow HallMillbeckstock Cottage, Millbeck StockNo. 1 CHURCH STREETOld BelfieldOld FallbarrowRose Cottage Royal Hotel CottageStags Head InnThe Angel InnThe HydroThe SpinneyTomb of Rasselas Belfield in St. Martin's ChurchyardWhite House
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 17% of Bowness-on-Windermere
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Bowness 198222 ha
22 hain conservation areas, of 128 ha inside the built-up area.
16 of the 26 listed buildings stand in one.
Historic England’s conservation areas layer, supplied by councils (incomplete in places, so a page fact, never graded). Hectares are the part of each area inside the built-up area.
How the list grew
More than half of Bowness-on-Windermere’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1973
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1973 · 191950 · 6
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 6 entries were listed in 1950, 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings among them. 19 came in 1973, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.
History Grade
Bowness-on-Windermere grades A− for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (29 points, 127 per 10,000 residents)More than 69% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (32%)More than 86% of UK towns
Two measures, each ranked against every UK town of 1,000 or more, with protected heritage counting twice as much as the age of homes. Protected heritage counts each listed building by its grade (Grade I three points, II* two, II one), each scheduled monument and battlefield two, and each registered park or garden by its grade; it is ranked both per 10,000 residents and as a total, so a village with one fine church doesn’t outrank a historic city. The second measure is the share of homes built before 1919, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records. History is a character grade: it describes the town and isn’t part of the overall grade.
Homes by age
32% of Bowness-on-Windermere’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
27%
Before 1900
5.8%
1900–18
3.2%
1919–29
4.6%
1930s
1.7%
1945–54
6.6%
1955–64
20%
1965–72
11%
1973–82
6.9%
1983–92
3.7%
1993–99
5.7%
2000–08
0.5%
2009–15
4%
2016–25
Bowness-on-WindermereEngland & Wales
27% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1965–72, which added 20% of today’s homes.
Valuation Office Agency, council tax stock of properties by build period, 31 March 2025, for the neighbourhoods (LSOAs) that make up the town, split by where their residents live. Homes with no recorded build period (29 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Towns its size
Bowness-on-Windermere has the 90th most Grade I buildings of 1,398 towns its size
Places of 1,000–4,000 people outside London, by Grade I listed buildings.
Bowness-on-Windermere1
#394 of 1,398for listed buildings per resident (114 per 10,000). Burford, Painswick and Chipping Campden lead.
89 have more. The typical town its size has 0.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Bowness-on-Windermere
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowness-on-Windermere | 2,290 | 26 | 1 | A− |
| Windermere | 4,819 | 24 | 0 | B+ |
| Staveley | 1,466 | 5 | 0 | B |
| Ambleside | 2,624 | 44 | 1 | A |
| Kendal | 28,939 | 183 | 3 | A− |
| Levens | 1,020 | 3 | 0 | C+ |
| Milnthorpe | 1,871 | 7 | 0 | B− |
In brief
Bowness-on-Windermere in brief
Old houses are part of Bowness-on-Windermere’s character: 32% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. All told, the list holds 26 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I. Only 89 of the 1,398 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1982.
Most entries on the list, 54%, are houses, terraces and villas. The big year was 1973, when 19 of the 26 went on the list. The rest is about typical: per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns.
Questions about Bowness-on-Windermere’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Bowness-on-Windermere?
Historic England lists 26 buildings inside Bowness-on-Windermere’s built-up area: 1 Grade I, 1 Grade II* and 24 Grade II.
What are the Grade I listed buildings in Bowness-on-Windermere?
One: Parish Church of St Martin.
How many conservation areas are there in Bowness-on-Windermere?
1, covering about 22 hectares of the town. The largest is Bowness.
When were Bowness-on-Windermere’s buildings listed?
The first in 1950; the most, 19, in 1973.
Are there old photos of Bowness-on-Windermere?
Yes: 2 public-domain photos and postcards from 1903 to 1908, all on this page.
How old are the homes in Bowness-on-Windermere?
32% of homes were built before 1919 and 39% before 1940, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records (March 2025).
© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The National Heritage List for England is the official, up-to-date register of all nationally protected historic buildings and sites in England; check an entry on Historic England’s website before relying on it.
Sources: Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only · Historic England conservation areas (supplied by local planning authorities; October 2026). All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.