These pages are a collection of information relating to the history of Holly How, a house in Coniston, Cumbria. It also contains genealogical information about the Barratt family of Coniston in the 19th century, who were associated with the house. All the information can be found by browsing the following sections.
See also change log.
Holly How was originally the home of William and Sarah Barratt and their family. William Barratt was the nephew of John Barratt of the Coniston Coppermines. Although initially associated with the copper mining industry, William Barratt made his fortune in iron mining, having joined with John Barratt and others in founding the Hodbarrow Mining Company.
The house was completed about 1881, although parts may date back to the 1840s or earlier. In the early 20th century Holly How had a number of different occupants. In 1949 it was purchased by YHA and has been a youth hostel ever since.
I put these Holly How pages together while I was researching the history of the house in 2009. On 23 November 2009 I presented a talk entitled "The History of Holly How" to the Coniston Local History Soceity.
Except for the Deeds and some of the photographs, all the information here comes from publicly available sources.
If you would like to discuss anything about this subject you can email me (Nick) at nick@nickmoore.net.