Skinburness - 2

`The impressive Skinburness Hotel was built, in 1887, by Edwin Hodge Banks of Wigton where his family owned a small cotton mill. It stands on the site of an old pub - The Dukes Head.

The hotel's original interior

Banks also built Chichester House where he enjoyed the lifestyle of a wealthy country gentlemen, keeping his 30-foot steam yacht, the 'Neptune', moored nearby. He was declared bankrupt in 1889 and vanished from the area.

It then became home to the Carter-Woods family. Their son, Joey, was a talented artist; he was killed in World War I. Their daughter, Florence, moved to Newlyn in Cornwall to join her brother in the artists' colony there. 

She met and married A.J. Munnings, famous for his horse paintings. It was an unhappy marriage and Florence committed suicide in 1914. The story is told in the novel “Summer in February” by Jonathan Swift which was made into a movie in 2013.

During Word War II, The Towers was requisitioned by the Air Ministry and became a billet for airmen. It then became an hotel known as 'The Towers' and is now an old people's home.

The Skinburness Hotel has passed through many hands. It was run by the government, as part of the Carlisle State Management Scheme between 1916 and 1971. 

After this period, it never really regained its original glory. The last owners were Adrian and Vanessa Moore, a couple from the North-East. They concentrated on the coach party trade and re-opened the ballroom. However, the venture was unsuccessful and the Moores, like H.E. Banks before them, were declared bankrupt. Their total debts amounted to over £1.2 million.

The hotel in September, 2014
(Picture by Gordon Akitt)

The hotel closed in 2006. A proposal to demolish it and build a "retirement village" on the site was rejected, after fierce local opposition. It now stands derelict, all the fittings having been removed.