House of Lungbarrow

The House of Lungbarrow (PROSE: Lungbarrow) or House Lungbarrow (PROSE: Crimes Against History) was one of the senior Prydonian Houses formed in wake of the Intuitive Revelation. It was a noble house of wealth and privilege, (PROSE: Lungbarrow) once one of the five ruling Houses, (PROSE: Crimes Against History) but in later centuries it became stagnant and only produced petty servants and clerks. It was notable for being the family home of the Doctor. It was located in a mountain range on Gallifrey south of the Time Lord Capitol, perched on the west side of Mount Lung overlooking the Cadonflood River.

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. The House fell to disgrace when it was revealed that the quota of forty-five Cousins had been broken to weave a new Cousin, Owis, to replace the Doctor after he had been exiled from the House. After the Doctor notified the Prydonian Chapterhouse of this crime, Lungbarrow was removed from the Prydonian Chapter.

When the Doctor refused to attend the deathday of Lungbarrow's Kithriarch, Quences, the House was buried into the soil of Mount Lung, 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.

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)

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)

While considered a southern House, 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)

Surviving members of the House were subsequently recruited into Faction Paradox. Because the Faction was considered a House in its own right, this meant that when he died, the great hero of the Homeworld whose body became the Relic was considered the last true member of House Lungbarrow. (PROSE: Crimes Against History)

In 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)
 * In Anthony Coburn's second draft of the Pilot Episode, Dr. Who is a "Lord of the House of Dooclare" and his grand daughter Suzanne is "Findooclare", the to-be-queen of their homeworld, but they are in exile after the Palladin hordes invaded the Homeworld. (DWM 467)
 * Despite his hinted status as the Doctor's brother, Irving Braxiatel has actually never been stated nor implied to be from the House of Lungbarrow.