Please click the Play button to listen to a brief audio clip about the history of the The White House.
A Transcript is also available further down the page.
Historical Images
Audio Transcript
Appleby born and bred, John Robinson, trained as an attorney and entered the service of the landowning Lowther family as their ‘man of business’. In 1754 he was rewarded with a 999-year lease on a Lowther-owned property, which in 1756 he had rebuilt as the imposing White House. The house was part of the old Boroughgate blocks, with no room to build either side. This meant he was forced to build upwards, leaving us with the large standing White House we have today.
After moving into the White House, John Robinson gradually gained more influence in Appleby’s affairs, serving as town clerk, mayor, magistrate and the county colonel before in 1764 being elected, at the prompting of Sir James Lowther, MP for Westmorland. John Robinson’s cousin was John Wordsworth, father to the well-known poet, William Wordsworth.
Following Mr Robinson’s departure in 1780, John’s brother Jeremiah, a lawyer, took his place in the White House. Following his death, the White House was maintained by the Earls of Thanet and the Hothfield Family, being occupied by their agents in the North. By this time the property had expanded to incorporate three of the original medieval town burgages with garden terraces and summerhouses, overlooking the river and bowling green.
In 1903, the building became the home of Dr Andrew Sprott, who was a respected physician. Dr Sprott opened a consulting room in the ground floor office, and the wide entrance hall was the waiting room for the surgery. It was frequently overcrowded, with people sitting all the way up the stairs. Andrew Sprott’s daughter, Molly, ran the Brownies club from the summerhouses to the rear of the property. She lived a long life in Appleby, dying in 1995.
Dr Peter Delap took over the building in the 1950s and ran his medical practice from the house. After the Tufton family sold nearly all their Appleby and Eden properties, the White House was converted into flats, and the former ground floor surgery now home to Eden Heritage, an archaeological service.
About the Speaker: Martin Railton
Martin Railton is the Founder and Managing Director of Eden Heritage and also founded the Appleby Archaeology group. In 2022, he was awarded with the British Empire Medal for his services to the archaeology and community of Appleby. He is currently serving as a Appleby Town Councillor.