The building took some 20 years and around £140,000 to complete, but its owner was bankrupted by disastrous speculations in the Durham coal mines and forced to sell it to Henry William Askew of Minard Castle, Inverary in 1850. The Priory was Askew's residence until he sold it in 1874, during which time he remortgaged it at least five times using it as collateral. It appears he also shared the Priory with Henry Schneider, the iron mining entrepreneur. In 1874 the Priory was bought by John Poole, a local solicitor of Ulverston, who sold much of the estate for development; one of the main purchasers was William Gradwell, a developer from Barrow in Furness. Poole sold the Priory and surrounding park (approx. 150 acres) to a Scottish syndicate in 1878, who converted it to a spa hotel. The hotel was a popular destination until at least the turn of the century, so much so that the Priory had its own railway station. In 1883, the Furness Railway Company opened the Bardsea Loop Line which never went further than Conishead Priory. The railway embankment and station houses can still be seen today, situated just to the east of the house. In 1925 the Priory and its grounds were bought by the Conishead Co. Ltd, who made considerable improvements. Just four years later the Priory was up for sale again, and purchased, somewhat ironically, by the Durham Miners Welfare Committee for £35,000. The Committee employed the architect Arthur Kellett of Barnard Castle to redesign the interior for the priory's use as a convalescent home.