Please click the Play button to listen to a brief audio clip about the history of Battlebarrow House.
A Transcript is also available further down the page.
Photos provided by Karen Babayan
Historical Images
Photos provided by Karen Babayan
Audio Transcript
This fine, unspoilt residence was built in 1860 for the Revd Edward Heelis out of proceeds of sale of land to the Midland Railway for the building of the new Settle to Carlisle line. It is one of three Heelis houses built at around the same time in Appleby. Battlebarrow House is the smallest of the three and has always been a much-loved family home.
The Heelises were land agents and solicitors who worked all across the county, but all Heelis boys were sent to Appleby Grammar School when it was the best public school in the North with most boarding at Battlebarrow House. In later life, one of these boys, William Heelis, met the celebrated writer and illustrator Beatrix Potter when she was looking to invest the proceeds of her popular children’s books in farms in the Lake District. They married in 1913, both late in life, when he was 42 and she, 47. She was already a prosperous farmer in her own right and a prizewinning breeder of Herdwick sheep. They regularly stayed at Battlebarrow House for high days and holidays, evidenced in letters written from here by Beatrix to her family and publisher.
Battlebarrow House is built in the Victorian Gothic style and has a grand, ‘living hall’ with its own fireplace, a huge fine Victorian tiled floor and a sweeping staircase. The proportions of the house are typically Victorian, the ceilings are lofty, and the rooms generously sized with large sash windows and marble surround fireplaces.
Although the main entrance to the house faces the main road, the front of the house and main windows are configured so as to take full advantage of the fine view of Appleby’s Norman castle keep, arguably the best view in the Eden Valley.
The house was also home to George Stampa (cousin of Willy Heelis) renowned illustrator of Punch magazine, and more recently, contemporary illustrator Paul Leith. Since 2009 it has continued to be the home of a family of artists, musicians, writers and curators and latterly, a venue for outdoor opera for Opera North and Cumbria Opera Group.
About the Speaker: Karen Babayan
Karen Babayan is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and curator who also enjoys running community projects and workshops. Commissioned by the Eden Rivers Trust, she co-ran ‘Inside-Outside’: a riverside art trail following Storm Desmond, that caused terrible floods in Appleby. Other projects are on view at Appleby Train Station Platform 2, done alongside children from Appleby Primary School for the Carlisle-Settle line, and during Appleby Horse Fair, a frieze of welcome panels opposite the War Memorial on Bongate. Karen was C-Art Cumbria Artist of the Year in 2016.