 Meanwhile , the town of Barrow was continuing to grow , and this resulted in many commissions for the practice . In order to deal with this they opened a sub @-@ office in the town , run by John Harrison ( 1837 – 96 ) , which continued to exist until the late 1880s . The first major commission in the town was to design a flax and jute mill for James Ramsden ( 1870 – 72 ) . Other secular buildings included banks , cemetery buildings ( including a large gateway ) , ten large tenement blocks , schools , villas , meeting halls , and the School of Art . For the Furness Railway they designed stations , goods sheds , workers ' cottages and , probably , the circular water tower at Seascale . The partners were also involved with work at large country houses . The most important commission was to build a new wing at Holker Hall in 1871 – 75 to replace a wing severely damaged by fire ; this was the largest project undertaken by the partners . The next major country house commission was the restoration of Hoghton Tower ( 1876 – 78 ) for Sir Henry de Hoghton . Other work on country houses included building Sedgwick House ( 1868 – 69 ) , adding an extension to Leighton Hall ( 1870 ) , making extensions to Walton Hall ( 1870 ) , Underley Hall ( 1872 ) , Capernwray Hall ( 1875 – 76 ) , and Whittington Hall ( 1887 ) . New houses included Oak Lea for Henry Schneider ( 1874 , since demolished ) , Witherslack Hall ( 1874 ) , and Hampsfield House ( 1880 – 82 ) . Their last major work on a country house was the remodelling of Thurland Castle ( 1879 – 85 ) following severe damage by fire . The practice continued to design new schools , and in the 1870s they began to design new buildings for Sedbergh School , creating an association with the school that was to produce commissions throughout the remaining life of the practice . 
