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In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Belle Isle like this:
BELLE ISLE, or Curwen's Isle, an island in Windermere, Westmoreland; near the centre of the lake, opposite Bowness. It measures about 1½ mile in circuit, and upwards of 30 acres in area; is all disposed in landscape garden; and contains the mansion of Henry Curwen, Esq.,-a circular four-storey edifice, with hexastyle portico, built in 1776. A baronial fortalice once stood on the site of the mansion; belonged, in the time of Charles I., to the family of Phillipson; and was garrisoned and defended, at that time, for the Crown.
Belle Isle is now part of WESTMORLAND AND FURNESS Unitary Authority. Click here for graphs and data of how WESTMORLAND AND FURNESS has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Belle Isle itself, go to Statistics.
How to reference this page:
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Belle Isle, in Westmorland and Furness and Westmorland | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/25758
Date accessed: 08th April 2026
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Belle Isle".
