Sawrey Hotel

Far Sawrey, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 0LQ
Telephone: 01539 443425
Fax: 01539 443425
English Tourism Council 2 Star

The Hotel consists of at least three separate buildings, the original being in the centre, where the inn sign hangs, probably dating back to about 1700. The old stable block is now the bar, with bedrooms above and over the years various additions mean that it is now one continuous building.

Sawrey Hotel, Ambleside, Front of Hotel

It is not known whether the original building was an inn, but it seems likely, as there is a suggestion that it used to be known as the Angler's Rest. So far, I have been unable to trace any written record of this. However, it is certain that in 1841 the Licensee was one Thos. Perry, and the hotel was known as the New Inn at Far Sawrey, which was referred to as Extra Sawrey or Lesser Sawrey - as at that time many of the Victorian houses in Far Sawrey had yet to be built. Near Sawrey was sometimes known as Infra Sawrey or Greater Sawrey. The hotel has remarkably few landlords. Ten in 160 years.

1841 - 1860 Thos Perry
1860 - 1872 Jane Hartley
1872 - 1874 Robert Turner
1874 - 1886 John Swainson
1886 - 1895 Eleanor Hutchinson
1895 - 1903 William Shipley
1903 - 1921 Jimmy Rowe
1921 - 1929 Harry Steele
1929 - 1968 Mrs Robinson and Miss E Robinson
1968 - 1990 David and Sheila Brayshaw
1990 - 2001 David and Sheila Brayshaw, Ann and Stephen Crabtree, James Brayshaw
2001 - Sheila Brayshawm Ann and Stephen Crabtree, James Brayshaw

The name was probably changed to the Sawrey Hotel about 1870, when alterations were made adding extra bedrooms - and a bathroom! The old stables were altered to a bar in 1971, now known as the Claife Crier Bar - this is named after the local ghost of legend,who is believed to be the ghost of a monk from Furness Abbey in Medieval times, whose mission was the rescue of a fallen woman. He apparently fell in love with one who rejected him and he went mad, dying, crying his anguish on the heights of Claife, which his ghost has haunted ever since.On one occasion, the ferryman mistook his cry for a call, and he went out for his fare. When he returned, his hair had turned white and he never spoke again. Subsequently, the ghost was exorcised and his spirit confined to the quarry known as the Crier of Claife Quarry (grid reference. SD 384981).

The old beams in the bar are believed to be from ships wrecked on the Cumbria coast, which used to be a good source of sturdy beams used mostly in barns. It is possible that some may have come from wrecked ships from the Armada, many of the vessels being wrecked on the coasts of Cumberland and Northern Ireland.

How to find us

Sawrey Hotel, Ambleside, Map