print of Tarn Hows dating from 1890 to 1900. The Tarn Hows area originally contained three much smaller tarns, Low Tarn, Middle Tarn and High Tarn.
Wordsworth's Guide Through the District of the Lakes (1835 edition) recommends walkers to come this way but passes the tarns without mention. Until 1862 much of the Tarn Hows area was part of the open common grazing of Hawkshead parish. The remaining enclosed land and many of the local farms and quarries were owned by the Marshall family of Monk Coniston Hall (known as Waterhead House at the time).
James Garth Marshall (1802–1873) who was the
Member of Parliament for
Leeds (1847–1852) and third son of the industrialist
John Marshall, gained full possession of all of the land after an
inclosure act of 1862 and embarked on a series of landscape improvements in the area including expanding the
spruce,
larch and
pine plantations around the tarns; demolition of the Water Head Inn at Coniston; and the construction of a dam at Low Tarn that created the larger tarn that is there today. By 1899 Tarn Hows was already an important beauty spot. H.S. Cowper mentions "Tarn Hows, beloved by skaters in winter and picnic parties in summer. Here comes every day at least one
charabanc load of sightseers from
Ambleside or
Windermere". A wooden boat house that was still standing in the 1950s at the south east corner of the tarn probably dated from this period. In 1913 G.D. Abraham said "Tarn Hows is set wildly among larches and heather slopes, more like a highland lake than the other waters in Lakeland... more suitable for pedestrians than motorists".
Beatrix Potter In 1930 the Marshall family wanted to sell their Monk Coniston estate.
Beatrix Potter's husband, William Heelis of Sawrey, was solicitor for the Marshall family and so was aware of the possibility early on. One of the farms within the estate had previously been owned by Potter's great-grandfather and so Beatrix was interested in buying the estate as a whole rather than allowing it to be sold off piecemeal for tourist development; however, she could not afford the whole £15,000–£18,000 asking price without selling other properties that she wanted to keep. Presumably he donated the funds to the appeal to buy this portion of the estate. The remaining half of the Monk Coniston estate was bequeathed by Potter in her will to the National Trust.
National Trust era Tarn Hows was designated a
Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1965. The National Trust have made a number of more recent changes to the area including moving the car parks to a less obtrusive place in the 1960s and general footpath and road improvements to minimize the damage caused by the visitors. In May 2008 a building designed to harmonise with the landscape was opened, providing toilets and an information display under a
sedum green roof. == Protected area ==