Malham Tarn House: The grand former hunting lodge in a bleak location high in the Yorkshire Dales

Lister, created the first Baron Ribblesdale in 1797, followed his father as MP for Clitheroe, was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1794-5, and at Malham Tarn hosted shooting parties in pursuit of local deer, grouse and wildfowl.

In medieval times the land belonged to Fountains Abbey, and after the Dissolution had several owners before the Listers.

There is thought to have been an earlier building, possibly a farm, dating from the late 16th century.

It is said Lister constructed a raised platform with scree to provide his Georgian mansion with an elevated view over the tarn.

Known originally as Malhamwater House, it was owned by the Listers until 1852, when the house and estate were bought for £90,250 by James Morrison, a rich London merchant.

He extended the house at the rear, and his son Walter later added an East Wing. Among regular guests of the Morrisons was John Ruskin, the Victorian art historian and critic.

Another was the Hampshire clergyman, the Rev. Charles Kingsley, who on a visit in 1858 was inspired to write one the best known children’s books of the Victorian era, The Water Babies, the story of a young “climbing boy” chimney sweep who escapes from a mansion like Malham Tarn House.

A fire in 1873 seriously damaged the roof and interior.

After Walton Morrison died, the house and estate were again sold, and in 1946 they were gifted to the National Trust.

Since the 1950s, Malham Tarn House has been a residential field studies centre.