Moss Eccles Tarn is a tarn on

Claife Heights Claife Heights is an upland area in the Lake District, near to Windermere in Cumbria, England. It has a topographic prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US Engl ...

, near Near Sawrey in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

. It is currently owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

and known as an attractive tarn for fishing and walking. It is known for its association with

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Heelis (; 28 July 186622 December 1943), usually known as Beatrix Potter ( ), was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' ...

– she owned the tarn and donated it to the National Trust after her death, and it served as inspiration for some of her stories.

Description

The tarn is on

Alfred Wainwright Alfred Wainwright Order of the British Empire, MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalking, fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume ''Pictorial ...

calls it the "most attractive" tarn on Claife Heights; it is stocked with

water lilies ''Water Lilies'' ( ) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artistic production during ...

and fish, and surrounded by

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

s. The outflow is bridged by a small

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

. The tarn is best reached by following a track from Near Sawrey, a small village between

Hawkshead Hawkshead is a village and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. It lies within the Lake District National Park and was historically part of Lancashire. The parish includes the hamlets of Hawkshead Hill, to the north west, ...

and

Windermere Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Ki ...

History

Wainwright contends the "tarn" to be a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

, noting that none of the tarns on Claife Heights appear on 19th-century maps. He notes, however, that they are "not obtrusively artificial". After

and her husband William Heelis married in 1913, they lived in Castle Cottage in Far Sawrey and rowed on the tarn in summer evenings. Potter sketched near the tarn and her husband fished in it. In 1926, Potter bought part of the tarn, planting the water lilies and stocking it with fish. Along with much other land, it was left to the National Trust by Potter upon her death in 1943. It was probably a combination of Moss Eccles Tarn and

Esthwaite Water Esthwaite Water is one of the smaller and lesser known lakes in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is situated between the much larger lakes of Windermere and Coniston Water in the Furness area. To the north is the villag ...

that served as inspiration for the home of Jeremy Fisher in ''

The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher ''The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher'' is a children's book, written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. It was published by Frederick Warne & Co., Frederick Warne & Co. in July 1906. Jeremy's origin lies in a letter she wrote to a child in 1893. She ...

''; the road to the tarn from Near Sawrey was also drawn by Potter for ''

The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding ''The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in October 1908 as ''The Roly-Poly Pudding''. In 1926, it was re-published as '' ...

''. The "strange, flat bottomed boat" in which Potter and Heelis rowed is now housed in the Windermere Steamboat Museum; it was salvaged from the tarn in 1976.

Fishing

The tarn is stocked with

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

, and the fishing rights are controlled by the Windermere, Ambleside and District Anglish Association on behalf of the National Trust. The membership of the association is open, and tickets to fish in the tarn can be bought from local pubs, service stations and fishing shops. There is a limit to two fish per day per person.

References

{{authority control Reservoirs in Cumbria Beatrix Potter National Trust properties in the Lake District Westmorland and Furness