House of Lungbarrow

House of Lungbarrow
Location:	Gallifrey, halfway up Mount Lung
First mentioned in:	The Time Monster
First appearance:	Lungbarrow
Appearances:	PROSE: Unnatural History PROSE: Gallifrey: A Rough Guide PROSE: Crimes Against History PROSE: The Book of the War PROSE: The Three Paths

You may be looking for the bloodline of "House Lungbarrow".

The House of Lungbarrow was the house on Gallifrey where the Doctor spent their childhood. It was located halfway up a mountain. (PROSE: Lungbarrow, TV: The Time Monster, PROSE: Gallifrey: A Rough Guide) and was the chapterhouse of House Lungbarrow, the disgraced noble Gallifreyan bloodline from which the Doctor sprang, which could itself also be referred to as the "House of Lungbarrow", as the boundary between a Great House and its chapterhouse was somewhat fluid. (PROSE: Lungbarrow, PROSE: Crimes Against History)

Like all ancient Gallifreyan Houses, it had a mind of its own, (PROSE: Lungbarrow) being "semi-sentient". (PROSE: Gallifrey: A Rough Guide)

Location

Lungbarrow was located in a mountain range on Gallifrey not far from the Time Lord Capitol, perched on the west side of Mount Lung overlooking the Cadonflood River, (PROSE: Lungbarrow) "two days from Rassilon's Rampart", in the Southern Gallifreyan Mountains. (PROSE: Gallifrey: A Rough Guide)

While considered a southern House (PROSE: The Scarlet Empress) because it was to the south of the Capitol, (PROSE: Lungbarrow) Lungbarrow was not actually part of Gallifrey's lower south hemisphere, (PROSE: The Scarlet Empress) and Mount Lung was close enough to have a view of the Capitol. (PROSE: The Three Paths) Indeed, when she questioned his accent, the Ninth Doctor suggested to Rose Tyler that he was from "the north" by the standards of his planet. (TV: Rose) The official southernmost House was Ixion, beyond which were the "southern mountains". (PROSE: The Return of the King)

History

The House was created by the Other; a living thing, it remembered being a seedling and, before that, an "insubstantial idea" existing only in the Other's mind. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)

The Doctor's father once laid out all his plans and projects on the table in the Great Hall of Lungbarrow. He and Mr Saldaamir were interrupted when the First Doctor let a cobblemouse loose, which ran across the table and scattered all the plans and projects in the air. (PROSE: Unnatural History)

Cavis' father once visited the Doctor's family at Lungbarrow. (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon)

The fall of the House of Lungbarrow. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)

When the Doctor refused to attend the deathday of Lungbarrow's Kithriarch, Quences, the House buried itself into the soil of Mount Lung in shame, going missing for 673 years. During that time Quences was killed by his Cousin, Glospin, who framed the Doctor for the murder after Quences' will was hidden. The Seventh Doctor eventually returned to his home to face his Cousins. After the Doctor foiled Glospin's conspiracy against him, the House rose from the Mountain and crashed into the valley below, (PROSE: Lungbarrow) where it "collapsed". (PROSE: Crimes Against History)

In an act of reparation, President Romana reinstated Lungbarrow in the Prydonian Chapter, allowing for a new House to be created from the original template, "but without the temper". Cousin Innocet was appointed Housekeeper of the new House of Lungbarrow, though the process of growing and nurturing it would take some years, (PROSE: Lungbarrow) and the construction of this new House was never completed as most of the surviving Lungbarrow cousins scattered or joined Faction Paradox, which was founded by one of their own. (PROSE: Crimes Against History)

However, the Rivera Manuscript, a praxis-dosed renegade witnessed an enemy attack on "a familiar chapterhouse in the mountains" on the fringes of Great House society. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

Known staff and members

Known staff and members of the House of Lungbarrow included the Doctor, Almund, Arkhew, Celesia, Chovor, Farg, Glospin, Innocet, Jobiska, Luton, Maljamin, Rynde, Salpash, Tulgel, Owis, Quences, Satthralope, (PROSE: Lungbarrow) the Doctor's father, (PROSE: Unnatural History) and Grandfather Paradox. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)

Behind the scenes

• Marc Platt said that the House's gigantic, predatory furniture was inspired by a production he had seen of Michael Tippett's opera The Midsummer Marriage. In one scene, a character regressed to her childhood as she climbed some steps, which was dramatised by wheeling a huge staircase onto the stage. (DWM 305)