Uploader's Comments

Text taken from slate plaque on main door of Barn

Stonethwaite

Through a series of transactions beginning in 1195, the Cistercian monks of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire acquired parts of the Borrowdale Valley, including Stonethwaite Farm. Between 1211 and the beginning of the 14th century, Stonethwaite developed into a thriving medieval vaccary or dairy farm and the monks of Furness, who owned much of the rest of the valley, complained that the 1211 agreement had been unfairly drawn up and a long legal battle began. Finally, in 1304 King Edward intervened and confiscated the property. He then sold it to Fountains Abbey for 40 shillings!