ONE of Lakeland’s most distinctive country manor houses is now a scenic backdrop for summer campers and sailors on the banks of Coniston Water.

Coniston Hall has stood in its present form for more than 400 years but has a history stretching back to medieval times.

The Mannex Directory of Furness and Cartmel for 1882 notes: “Coniston Hall, the residence of the le Fleming family for seven generations, is a low antique building on the borders of the lake, with chimneys wrapped in ivy.

“It is supposed to have been erected in the reign of Elizabeth, and has been made the subject of an historical romance by the Reverend W. Gresley.

“Once the abode of nobility it is now the homestead of a farmer.”

In 1882 it was farmed by William Dawson Inman.

Richard le Fleming got the Manor of Coniston in 1250 as part of the deal on his marriage to Elizebeth de Urswick.

Not long after this, the first hall would have been built.

In the 1580s William Fleming began work on the hall as we see it today.

The Flemings moved out of Coniston Hall for a new home at Rydal Hall during the middle years of the 17th century.

Coniston Hall was kept as a hunting lodge and seems to have gone out of use around 1710.

The building was partially restored in 1815 and remained as part of the Fleming estate until it was sold to the National Trust in 1971.