Hostel of the week

Purpose-built in local stone, designed by John Dower. It can’t be any other but YHA Eskdale.

I love the old photo of the first hostel too.

On 11th June 1937 the YHA Trust Property Book recorded that part of the Estate or Farm at Wha House, Eskdale, amounting to 15 acres, 1 rood and 13 perches, had been leased at £12 per annum for 99 years from 11th August 1936.

It was for a purpose-built hostel in local stone, designed by John Dower, ARIBA. The new facility cost £4,000, partly met by a grant from the Special Areas Fund, a government-backed scheme to assist areas of deprivation in the North of England and South Wales in the 1930s.

More in John Martin’s historical profile of hostels in one of Lakeland’s finest valleys… https://duncanmsimpsonwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/y950001-eskdale-yhs-reduced-profile-rev2020-01-01-p.pdf