The town's ancient parish church of St Martin was built in 1483 but of an
older foundation. The former rectory is said to have been built in 1415.
Bowness-on-Windermere became a civil parish in 1894 and an urban district
council was formed for the town at the same time. In 1905, the council merged
with that of Windermere, and the two civil parishes merged in 1974 under the
name of Windermere. The civil parish is governed by a town council.
During the 19th century, Bowness grew from
a small fishing village to a town living almost entirely off tourism and
holiday homes. It was
