The House is currently owned by the Field Studies Council and the National Trust. It is situated on the north shore of the Tarn with the impressive back drop of Highfolds Scar, a limestone crag. The house has a history of occupation for at least the past 350 years. There have been three significant architectural changes -at around 1780, 1870 and 1950- associated with Lister of Gisburn, James and Walter Morrison and the last change associated with The Field Studies Council and National Trust.
The cellars under the west wing of the present house represent the ground floor of an earlier house of the period 1570-1630.
c. 1780 Thomas Lister, later to become Lord Ribblesdale, planned his new house to stand on a platform made by digging up the scree from behind the old house and piling it in front with a sharp slope which can be seen in the present lawn. The new house was built up from about the first floor level of the old house, thus the cellars represent part of the earlier building. The house was built from medium grained sandstone. The elegant Georgian building had well proportioned sash windows and a symmetrical front facing the lake across the lawn.
In 1852 Lord Ribblesdale sold the estate to James Morrison, whose son Walter inherited in 1857 and lived there until his death in 1921. The Morrisons extended the house to its present size in two stages. First with the addition of an extra kitching-scullary block as an extension backwards from the west wing. Then, a couple of years later, by taking the north wall about eight feet into the yard.
c. 1862-1885 Walter Morrison last major addition to the house was a new east wing. It was built in fine grained dressed sandstone in a style influenced by Ruskin, a frequent guest of Morrison. The glass veranda across the front of the Georgian part was also added during this period.
1946-1963 Miss Hutton Croft gave the house to the National Trust in 1947. The NT leased the building to the Field Studies Council who have made minor changes to make the place suitable for use as a study centre, these mainly consist of internal partitioning. Considerable structural changes have been made to the two stable blocks, now refered to as the North Wing and High Stables. In 1962 the Archway was converted into a small laboratory and a new double garage made behind the North Wing.
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