right|thumb|300px|[[Skiddaw mountain, the town of
Keswick and
Derwent Water seen from
Walla Crag.]]
The
Lake District, also known as
The Lakes or
Lakeland, is a rural area in
North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes and its mountains (or
fells), and its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of
William Wordsworth and the
Lake Poets.
The central and most-visited part of the area is contained in the
Lake District National Park, one of fourteen
National Parks in the
United Kingdom. It lies entirely within
Cumbria, and is one of England's few
mountainous regions. All the land in England higher than three thousand feet above sea level lies within the National Park, including
Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in
England.
Geography
General geography
The Lake District is approximately 34 miles (55 km) across. Its features are a result of periods of
glaciation, the
most recent of which ended some 15,000 years ago. These include the ice-carved wide
U-shaped valleys, many of which are now filled with the lakes that give the park its name. The upper regions contain a number of glacial
cirques, which are typically filled with
tarns. The higher fells are rocky, with lower fells being open
moorland, notable for its wide
bracken and
heather coverage. Below the
tree line, native
oak woodlands sit alongside nineteenth century
pine plantations. Much of the land is often
boggy, due to the high rainfall. The Lake District is one of the most highly populated national parks. Its total area is near , and the Lake District was designated as a National Park in 1951.
North-west
The north-western area stands between the valleys of
Borrowdale and
Buttermere, with
Honister Pass joining the two dales. This area comprises the
Newlands Fells (
Dale Head,
Robinson,
Catbells) and the ridge joining them. To the north stand
Grasmoor,
Grisedale Pike and the hills around the valley of
Coledale, and in the far north-west is Thornthwaite Forest and
Lord's Seat. The fells in this area are rounded
Skiddaw slate, with few tarns and relatively few rock faces.
West
The western part is the area between Buttermere and
Wasdale, with
Sty Head forming the apex of a large triangle.
Ennerdale bisects the area, which consists of the
High Stile ridge north of Ennerdale, the
Loweswater Fells in the far north west, the
Pillar group in the south west, and
Great Gable () near Sty Head. Other tops include
Seatallan,
Haystacks and
Kirk Fell. This area is craggy and steep, with the impressive pinnacle of Pillar Rock its showpiece.
Wastwater, located in this part, is England's deepest lake. Rising up around the Western Valley of Wasdale is
Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain.
Central
The central part is the lowest in terms of elevation. It takes the form of a long boot-shaped ridge running from
Loughrigg Fell above
Ambleside—a popular tourist destination—to
Keswick, with
Derwent Water on the west and
Thirlmere on the east. The
Langdale Pikes, with
High Raise behind them, are another feature popular with walkers. The central ridge running north over
High Seat is exceptionally boggy.
East
The eastern area consists of a long north-to-south
ridge—the
Helvellyn range, running from
Clough Head to
Seat Sandal with the
Helvellyn at its highest point. The western slopes of these summits tend to be grassy, with rocky
corries and
crags on the eastern side. The
Fairfield group lies to the south of the range, and forms a similar pattern with towering rock faces and hidden valleys spilling into the
Patterdale valley. It culminates in the height of
Red Screes overlooking the
Kirkstone Pass.
Far-east
The far-eastern fells lie on the other side of
Patterdale and are characterised by steep sides leading up to a huge moorland
plateau, again on a north–south axis.
High Street is the highest point on the ridge, overlooking the hidden valley of
Mardale and
Haweswater. In the south of this region are the fells overlooking
Kentmere, and to the east is
Shap Fell, a huge area that is more akin to the
Pennines than the Lakes, consisting of high flat
moorland.
Mid-west
The mid-western fells form a triangular shape, with the corners at the
Irish Sea,
Borrowdale and
Langdale. They comprise the
Wastwater Screes overlooking Wasdale, the
Glaramara ridge overlooking Borrowdale, the three tops of
Crinkle Crags,
Bowfell and
Esk Pike overlooking Langdale and
Scafell Pike in the centre, at the highest ground in England.
Scafell one mile (1.6 km) to the south-west is slightly lower but has a rock face on its north face, Scafell Crag. The valley of
Eskdale penetrates this upland wilderness. These fells are the most rugged and craggy of all, and consequently going is slower amongst the tumbled
granite.
South-west
The south-western fells have as their northern boundary the
Hardknott and
Wrynose Passes. These are particularly narrow and steep, with tight hairpin bends. The
Furness Fells (invariably referred to as the Coniston Fells by walkers) stand between
Coniston and the
Duddon Valley, which runs NE-SW through the centre of the area. On the other side of the Duddon is
Harter Fell and the long ridge leading over
Whitfell to
Black Combe and the sea. The south of this region consists of lower forests and knolls, with
Kirkby Moor on the southern boundary. The south-western Lake District ends near the
Furness peninsulas, which leads to
Cumbria's second largest settlement (
Barrow-in-Furness). The Castlehead field centre is in this area.
South-east
The south-eastern area is the territory between
Coniston Water and
Windermere and east of Windermere. There are no high summits in this group; it is mainly low hills, knolls and bumpy terrain such as
Gummer's How,
Whitbarrow and Top o' Selside. The wide expanse of
Grizedale Forest stands between the two lakes.
Kendal and
Morecambe Bay mark the edge.
25 highest peaks
The 25 highest peaks (of those given an individual chapter in the
Pictorial Guides by
Alfred Wainwright) are:
The impressive bulk of the
Scafell massif, the highest ground in England, seen over the
Wastwater valley
A more extensive list of fells can be found on the
list of fells in the Lake District and the
list of hills in the Lake District.
Lakes
Boats on Ullswater
There is only one true lake in the Lake District,
Bassenthwaite Lake. All the others such as
Windermere,
Coniston Water,
Ullswater and
Buttermere are meres and waters, with
mere being the least common and
water being the most common. The major lakes and reservoirs in the National Park are given below.
More lakes, tarns and reservoirs can be found on the
list of lakes in the Lake District.
Geology
The Lake District's
geology is complex but well-studied. Its oldest rocks are the
Skiddaw Slate series and the
Borrowdale Volcanic series dating back to the
Ordovician, some 500 million years ago. The Skiddaw Slates are found in the northern part of the park and were probably deposited in shallow seas; their thickness is unknown. The Borrowdale Volcanic rocks are more extensive and form the Lakes' highest peaks, being resistant to weathering. Later
intrusions have formed individual outcrops of
igneous rock in both these series. The other large rock group is the
Silurian Windermere Group, made of
Limestone that rests upon the volcanic rocks. Many smaller series are also present.
Climate
The Lake District's location on the north west coast of England, coupled with its mountainous geography, makes it the dampest part of
England. The UK
Met Office reports average annual
precipitation of more than , but with very large local variation. Although the entire region receives above average rainfall, there is a wide disparity between the amount of rainfall in the western and eastern lakes. Lake District has
relief rainfall.
Seathwaite in
Borrowdale is the wettest inhabited place in the
British Isles with an average of of rain a year, while nearby Sprinkling Tarn is even wetter, recording over per year; by contrast, Keswick, at the end of
Borrowdale receives per year, and
Penrith (just outside the Lake District) only . March to June tend to be the driest months, with October to January the wettest, but at low levels there is relatively little difference between months.
The Lake District is also windy, although sheltered valleys experience
gales on an average of five days a year. In contrast, the coastal areas have 20 days of gales; while the fell tops may have 100 days of gales per year.
The maritime climate means that the Lake District experiences relatively moderate temperature variations through the year. Mean temperature in the valleys ranges from about in January to around in July. (By comparison,
Moscow, at the same latitude, ranges from -10 °C to 19 °C/14°F to 66°F).
The relatively low height of most of the fells means that, while snow is expected during the winter, they can be free of snow at any time of the year. Normally, significant snow fall only occurs between November and April. On average, snow falls on
Helvellyn 67 days per year. During the year, valleys typically experience 20 days with snow falling, a further 200 wet days, and 145 dry days.
Hill
fog is common at any time of year, and the fells average only around 2.5 hours of sunshine per day, increasing to around 4.1 hours per day on the coastal plains.
Wildlife
The area is home to a plethora of wildlife, some of which is unique in England. It provides a home for the
red squirrel and colonies of
sundew and
butterwort, two of the few
carnivorous plants native to
Britain. England's only nesting pair of
Golden Eagles can be found in the Lake District. The female Golden Eagle has not been seen since 2004 although the male still remains.
The lakes of the Lake District support three rare and endangered species of fish: the
vendace, which can be found only in Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwent Water, the
schelly, which lives in Brothers Water, Haweswater, Red Tarn and Ullswater, and the
Arctic charr, which can be found in Buttermere, Coniston Water, Crummock Water, Ennerdale Water, Haweswater, Loweswater, Thirlmere, Wast Water, and Windermere.
The vendace (
Coregonus vandesius) is England's rarest species of fish, and is only found in the Lake District.
In recent years, some important changes have been made to fisheries byelaws covering the north-west region of England, to help protect some of the rarest fish species. The
Environment Agency has introduced a new fisheries byelaw, banning the use of all freshwater fish as live bait or as dead bait in 14 of the lakes in the Lake District. Anglers who do not comply with the new byelaw could face fines of up to £2,500. The byelaw was introduced on 26 July 2002.
There are 14 lakes in the Lake District which are affected. These are: Bassenthwaite Lake, Brothers Water, Buttermere, Coniston Water, Crummock Water, Derwent Water, Ennerdale Water, Haweswater, Loweswater, Red Tarn, Thirlmere, Ullswater, Wast Water and Windermere.
The lakes and waters of the Lake District do not naturally support as many species of fish as other similar habitats in the south of the country and elsewhere in Europe. Some fish that do thrive there are particularly at risk from accidental or deliberate introduction of new species.
The introduction of non-native fish can lead to the predation of the native fish fauna or competition for food. There is also the risk of disease being introduced, which can further threaten native populations. In some cases, the introduced species can disturb the environment so much that it becomes unsuitable for particular fish. For example, a major problem has been found with
ruffe. This non-native fish has now been introduced into a number of lakes in recent years. It is known that ruffe eat the eggs of
vendace, which are particularly vulnerable because of their long incubation period. This means that they are susceptible to predators for up to 120 days. The eggs of other fish, for example
roach, are only at risk for as little as three days.
Industry and agriculture
In
Neolithic times, the Lake District was a major source of stone
axes, examples of which have been found all over Britain. The primary site, on the slopes of the Langdale Pikes, is sometimes described as a "stone axe factory" of the
Langdale axe industry. Some of the earliest
stone circles in Britain are connected with this industry.
Since
Roman times,
farming, in particular of
sheep, was the major industry in the region. The breed most closely associated with the area is the tough
Herdwick, with
Rough Fell and
Swaledale sheep also common. Sheep farming remains important both for the economy of the region and for preserving the landscape which visitors want to see. Features such as
dry stone walls, for example, are there as a result of sheep farming. Some land is also used for
silage and
dairy farming. There are extensive plantations of non-native pine trees.
The area was badly affected by the
foot-and-mouth outbreak across the
United Kingdom in 2001. Thousands of sheep, grazing on the fellsides across the District, were destroyed. In replacing the sheep, one problem to overcome was that many of the lost sheep were
heafed, that is, they knew their part of the unfenced fell and did not stray, with this knowledge being passed between generations. With all the sheep lost at once, this knowledge has to be re-learnt and some of the
fells have had discreet electric fences strung across them for a period of five years, to allow the sheep to "re-heaf".
Mining, particularly of
copper,
lead (often associated with quantities of
silver),
baryte,
graphite and
slate, was historically a major Lakeland industry, mainly from the 16th century to the 19th century. Coppiced woodland was used extensively to provide charcoal for smelting. Some mining still takes place today—for example slate mining continues at the
Honister Mines, at the top of
Honister Pass. Abandoned mine-workings can be found on fell-sides throughout the district. The locally-mined graphite led to the development of the
pencil industry, especially around
Keswick.
A typical Lake District scene
In the middle of the 19th century, half the world textile industry's bobbin supply came from the Lake District area. Over the past century, however,
tourism has grown rapidly to become the area's primary source of income.
Development of tourism
Early visitors to the Lake District, who travelled for the education and pleasure of the journey, include
Celia Fiennes who in 1698 undertook a journey the length of
England, including riding through
Kendal and over
Kirkstone Pass into
Patterdale. Her experiences and impressions were published in her book
Great Journey to Newcastle and Cornwall:
As I walked down at this place I was walled on both sides by those inaccessible high rocky barren hills which hang over one’s head in some places and appear very terrible; and from them springs many little currents of water from the sides and clefts which trickle down to some lower part where it runs swiftly over the stones and shelves in the way, which makes a pleasant rush and murmuring noise and like a snowball is increased by each spring trickling down on either side of those hills, and so descends into the bottoms which are a Moorish ground in which in many places the waters stand, and so form some of those Lakes as it did here.
In 1724,
Daniel Defoe published the first volume of
A Tour Thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain. He commented on
Westmorland that it was:
the wildest, most barren and frightful of any that I have passed over in England, or even Wales itself; the west side, which borders on Cumberland, is indeed bounded by a chain of almost unpassable mountains which, in the language of the country, are called fells.
Towards the end of the 18th century, the area was becoming more popular with travellers. This was partly a result of wars in
Continental Europe, restricting the possibility of travel there. In 1778
Father Thomas West produced
A Guide to the Lakes, which began the era of modern tourism.
West listed "stations"—viewpoints where tourists could enjoy the best views of the landscape, being encouraged to appreciated the formal qualities of the landscape and to apply aesthetic values. At some of these stations, buildings were erected to help this process. The remains of Claife Station (on the western shore of
Windermere below
Claife Heights) can be visited today.
William Wordsworth published his
Guide to the Lakes in 1810, and by 1835 it had reached its fifth edition, now called
A Guide through the District of the Lakes in the North of England. This book was particularly influential in popularising the region. Wordsworth's favourite valley was Dunnerdale or the
Duddon Valley nestling in the south-west of the Lake District.
The railways led to another expansion in tourism. The
Kendal and Windermere Railway was the first to penetrate the Lake District, reaching
Kendal in 1846 and
Windermere in 1847. The line to
Coniston opened in 1848 (although until 1857 this was only linked to the national network with ferries between
Fleetwood and
Barrow-in-Furness); the line from
Penrith through
Keswick to
Cockermouth in 1865; and the line to
Lakeside at the foot of
Windermere in 1869. The railways, built with traditional industry in mind, brought with them a huge increase in the number of visitors, thus contributing to the growth of the tourism industry. Railway services were supplemented by steamer boats on the major lakes of
Ullswater,
Windermere,
Coniston Water, and
Derwent Water.
The growth in tourist numbers continued into the age of the motor car, when railways began to be closed or run down. The formation of the
Lake District National Park in 1951 recognised the need to protect the Lake District environment from excessive commercial or industrial exploitation, preserving that which visitors come to see, without (so far) any restriction on the movement of people into and around the district. The
M6 Motorway helped bring traffic to the Lakes, passing up its eastern flank. The narrow roads present a challenge for traffic flow and, from the 1960s, certain areas have been very congested.
Whilst the roads and railways provided easier access to the area, many people were drawn to the Lakes by the publication of the
Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells by
Alfred Wainwright. First published between 1952 and 1965, these books provided detailed information on 214 peaks across the region, with carefully hand-drawn maps and panoramas, and also stories and asides which add to the colour of the area. They are still used by many visitors to the area as guides for walking excursions, with the ultimate goal of
bagging the complete list of
Wainwrights. The famous guides are being revised by Chris Jesty to reflect changes, mainly in valley access and paths.
Since the early 1960s, the park has hired rangers to monitor the grounds to cope with increasing tourism and development, the first being
John Wyatt, who has since written a number of guide books. He was joined two years later by a second, and since then the number of rangers has been rising.
The area has also become associated with writer
Beatrix Potter. A number of tourists visit to see her family home, with particularly large numbers coming from
Japan.
Tourism has now become the park's major industry, with about 14 million visitors each year, mainly from the UK's larger settlements,
China,
Japan,
Spain,
Germany and the
USA. Windermere Lake Steamers are now the UK's second most popular charging tourist attraction and the local economy is dependent upon tourists. The negative impact of tourism has been seen, however.
Soil erosion, caused by walking, is now a significant problem, with millions of pounds being spent to protect over-used paths. In 2006, two
Tourist Information Centres in the National Park were closed.
Cultural tourism is becoming an increasingly important part of the wider tourist industry. The Lake District's links with a wealth of artists and writers and its strong history of providing summer theatre performances in the old Blue Box of Century Theatre are strong attractions for visiting tourists. The tradition of theatre is carried on by venues such as
Theatre by the Lake in Keswick with its Summer Season of six plays in
repertoire, Christmas and Easter productions and the many literature, film, mountaineering, jazz and creative arts festivals.
Literature and art
The Lake District is intimately associated with
English literature in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Thomas Gray was the first to bring the region to attention, when he wrote a journal of his
Grand Tour in 1769, but it was
William Wordsworth whose poems were most famous and influential. Wordsworth's poem "
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", inspired by the sight of
daffodils on the shores of Ullswater, remains one of the most famous in the English language. Out of his long life of eighty years, sixty were spent amid its lakes and mountains, first as a schoolboy at
Hawkshead, and afterwards living in
Grasmere (1799–1813) and
Rydal Mount (1813–50). Wordsworth,
Coleridge and
Southey became known as the
Lake Poets.
The poet and his wife lie buried in the churchyard of Grasmere and very near to them are the remains of
Hartley Coleridge (son of the poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge), who himself lived for many years in Keswick, Ambleside and Grasmere.
Robert Southey, the
Poet Laureate and friend of Wordsworth, was a resident of Keswick for forty years (1803–43), and was buried in
Crosthwaite churchyard. Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived for some time in Keswick, and also with the Wordsworths at Grasmere. From 1807 to 1815
John Wilson lived at Windermere.
De Quincey spent the greater part of the years 1809 to 1828 at Grasmere, in the first cottage which Wordsworth had inhabited. Ambleside, or its environs, was also the place of residence both of
Thomas Arnold, who spent there the vacations of the last ten years of his life and of
Harriet Martineau, who built herself a house there in 1845. At Keswick, Mrs Lynn Linton (wife of
William James Linton) was born, in 1822.
Brantwood, a house beside Coniston Water, was the home of
John Ruskin during the last years of his life. His assistant
W. G. Collingwood the author, artist and antiquarian lived nearby, and wrote
Thorstein of the Mere, set in the Norse period.
In addition to these residents or natives of the Lake District, a variety of other poets and writers made visits to the Lake District or were bound by ties of friendship with those already mentioned above. These include
Percy Bysshe Shelley,
Sir Walter Scott,
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Arthur Hugh Clough,
Henry Crabb Robinson,
Thomas Carlyle,
John Keats,
Lord Tennyson,
Matthew Arnold,
Felicia Hemans, and
Gerald Massey.
During the early 20th century, the children's author
Beatrix Potter was in residence at
Hill Top Farm, setting many of her famous
Peter Rabbit books in the Lake District. Her life was made into a biopic
film, starring
Renée Zellweger and
Ewan McGregor.
Arthur Ransome lived in several areas of the Lake District, and set a number of his
Swallows and Amazons books, published between 1930 and 1947, in a fictionalised Lake District setting. So did
Geoffrey Trease with his five Black Banner school stories (1949–56), starting with
No Boats on Bannermere.
The novelist
Sir Hugh Walpole lived at "Brackenburn" on the lower slopes of
Catbells overlooking Derwent Water from 1924 until his death in 1941. Whilst living at "Brackenburn" he wrote
The Herries Chronicle detailing the history of a fictional Cumbrian family over two centuries. The noted author and poet
Norman Nicholson came from the south-west Lakes, living and writing about
Millom in the twentieth century – he was known as the last of the
Lake Poets and came close to becoming the Poet Laureate.
Writer and Author
Melvyn Bragg was brought up in the region and has used it as the setting for some of his work, such as his novel "A time to dance", later turned into a television drama.
The Lake District has been the setting for crime novels by
Reginald Hill,
Val McDermid and
Martin Edwards.
Film Director
Ken Russell lived in the Keswick/Borrowdale area until 2007 and used it in some films, such as
Tommy and
MahlerSome students of
Arthurian lore identify the Lake District with the
Grail kingdom of
Listeneise.
The former
Keswick School of Industrial Art at Keswick was started by
Canon Rawnsley, a friend of
John Ruskin.
Nomenclature
A number of words and phrases are local to the Lake District and are part of the
Cumbrian dialect. These include:
- fell - brought to England by Viking invaders and close to modern Norwegian "fjell" and Swedish "fjäll" meaning mountain
- tarn - a word that has been taken to mean a small lake situated in a corrie, a local phrase for any small pool of water. The word is derived from the old Norse and Norwegian word "tjærn".
- Yan Tan Tethera - the name for a system of sheep counting which was traditionally used in the Lake District. Though now rare, it is still used by some and taught in local schools.
See also
