The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''

fells A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...

''), and its associations with

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

and other

Lake Poets The Lake Poets were a group of English poets who all lived in the Lake District of England, United Kingdom, in the first half of the nineteenth century. As a group, they followed no single "school" of thought or literary practice then known. They ...

and also with

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...

and

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

. The Lake District National Park was established in 1951 and covers an area of . It was designated a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

in 2017. The Lake District is today completely within

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

, a county and administrative unit created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. However, it was historically divided between three English counties ( Cumberland,

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

and

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

), sometimes referred to as the Lakes Counties. The three counties met at the Three Shire Stone on

Wrynose Pass The Wrynose Pass is a mountain pass in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England between the Duddon Valley and Little Langdale. Etymology The unusual name of the pass is taken from that of the adjacent Wrynose hill, also called W ...

in the southern fells west of

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern headwater) of Windermere, England's larges ...

. All the land in England higher than above sea level lies within the National Park, including

Scafell Pike Scafell Pike () is the highest and the most prominent mountain in England, at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, and is part of the Southern Fells and the Scafell massif. Scafell P ...

, the highest mountain in England. It also contains the deepest and largest natural lakes in England,

Wast Water Wast Water or Wastwater () is a lake located in Wasdale, a valley in the western part of the Lake District National Park, England. The lake is almost long and more than wide. It is a glacial lake, formed in a glacially 'over-deepened' valle ...

and

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in length, and almost 1 mile (1.5 km) at its wides ...

respectively.

Lake District National Park

The Lake District National Park includes all of the central Lake District, though the town of Kendal, some coastal areas, and the Lakeland Peninsulas are outside the park boundary. The area was designated a national park on 9 May 1951. It retained its original boundaries until 2016 when it was extended by 3% in the direction of the

Yorkshire Dales National Park The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England covering most of the Yorkshire Dales. Most of the park is in North Yorkshire, with a sizeable area in Westmorland (Cumbria) and a small part in Lancashire. The park was designa ...

to incorporate areas such as land of high landscape value in the

Lune Valley The River Lune (archaically sometimes Loyne) is a river in length in Cumbria and Lancashire, England. Etymology Several elucidations for the origin of the name ''Lune'' exist. Firstly, it may be that the name is Brittonic in genesis and deriv ...

. It is the most visited national park in the United Kingdom with 15.8 million annual visitors and more than 23 million annual day visits, the largest of the thirteen national parks in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

, and the second largest in the UK after the Cairngorms National Park.

Human geography

General

The precise extent of the Lake District was not defined traditionally, but is slightly larger than that of the National Park, the total area of which is about . The park extends just over from east to west and nearly from north to south, with areas such as the Lake District Peninsulas to the south lying outside the National Park.

Settlement

There are only a handful of major settlements within this mountainous area, the towns of Keswick,

, Ambleside, and

Bowness-on-Windermere Bowness-on-Windermere is a town in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It lies next to Windermere lake and the town of Windermere to the north east with which it forms the civil parish of Windermere and Bowness. The town was hist ...

being the four largest. Significant settlements close to the boundary of the national park include Carlisle,

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of B ...

, Kendal,

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census to ...

Dalton-in-Furness Dalton-in-Furness is a town and former civil parish in the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. In 2011 it had a population of 7,827. It is located north east of Barrow-in-Furness. History Dalton is mentioned in the Domesday Book, w ...

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...

, Penrith,

Millom Millom is a town and civil parish on the north shore of the estuary of the River Duddon in southwest Cumbria, historically part of Cumberland, England. It is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, about north of Barrow-in-Furnes ...

and

Grange-over-Sands Grange-over-Sands is a town and civil parish located on the north side of Morecambe Bay in Cumbria, England, a few miles south of the Lake District National Park. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,042, increasing at the 2011 ...

; each of these has important economic links with the area. Other villages are Coniston,

Threlkeld Threlkeld is a village and civil parish in the north of the Lake District in Cumbria, England, to the east of Keswick. It lies at the southern foot of Blencathra, one of the more prominent fells in the northern Lake District, and to the nort ...

Glenridding Glenridding is a village at the southern end of Ullswater, in the English Lake District. The village is popular with mountain walkers who can scale England's third-highest mountain, Helvellyn, and many other challenging peaks from there. Ety ...

Pooley Bridge Pooley Bridge is a village in the Eden District of the northwestern English county of Cumbria, within the traditional borders of Westmorland. The village takes its name from a bridge over the River Eamont at the northern end of Ullswater. T ...

Broughton-in-Furness Broughton in Furness is a market town in the civil parish of Broughton West in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It had a population of 529 at the 2011 Census. It is located on the south western boundary of England's Lake District ...

, Grasmere,

Newby Bridge Newby Bridge is a small hamlet in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is located several miles west of Grange-over-Sands and is on the River Leven, close to the southern end of Windermere. The hamlet is the site ...

Staveley Staveley may refer to: Places * Staveley, Cumbria, village in the former county of Westmorland and now in Cumbria, England ** Staveley railway station * Staveley-in-Cartmel, village formerly in Lancashire, now in Cumbria, England * Staveley, D ...

, Lindale,

Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 2001, it had a populati ...

and

Hawkshead Hawkshead is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, which attracts tourists to the South Lakeland area. The parish includes the hamlets of Hawkshead Hill, to the north west, and Outgate, a similar distance north. Hawkshead contains on ...

. The economies of almost all are intimately linked with tourism. Beyond these are a scattering of hamlets and many isolated farmsteads, some of which are still tied to agriculture; others now function as part of the tourist economy.Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 scale Landranger map sheets 89, 90, 96 & 97

Communications

Roads

A591 road, Lake District - June 2009 Edit 1

The Lake District is very nearly contained within a box of trunk routes and major A roads. It is flanked to the east by the

A6 road This is a list of roads designated A6. * A006 road (Argentina), a road connecting Las Cuevas with the Christ the Redeemer monument in the border between Argentina and Chile * ''A6 highway (Australia)'' may refer to : ** A6 (Sydney), a road connec ...

, which runs from Kendal to Penrith (though the National Park extension approved in 2015 is east of the A6); across its southern fringes by the

A590 The A590 is a trunk road in southern Cumbria, in the north-west of England. It runs north-east to south-west from M6 junction 36, through the towns of Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness to terminate at Biggar Bank on Walney Island.A5092, and across its northern edge by the A66 trunk road between Penrith and

. The

A595 The A595 is a primary route in Cumbria, in Northern England that starts in Carlisle, passes through Whitehaven and goes close to Workington, Cockermouth and Wigton. It passes Sellafield and Ravenglass before ending at the Dalton-in-Furness by ...

(linking the A66 with the A5092) forms the park boundary from Calder Bridge to Holmrook, then crosses the coastal plain of the park until turning inland at the Whicham Valley, forming much of the park boundary again until joining the A5092 at Grizebeck. Besides these, a few A roads penetrate the area itself, notably the

A591 The A591 is a major road in Cumbria, in the north-west of England, which lies almost entirely within the Lake District national park. A 2009 poll by satellite navigation firm Garmin named the stretch of the road between Windermere and Keswick ...

which runs north-westwards from Kendal to Windermere and then on to Keswick. It continues up the east side of

Bassenthwaite Lake Bassenthwaite Lake is one of the largest water bodies in the English Lake District. It is long and narrow, approximately long and wide, but is also extremely shallow, with a maximum depth of about . It is the only body of water in the Lake ...

. "The A591, Grasmere, Lake District" was short-listed in the 2011

Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expan ...

awards in the Most Romantic Street category. The A593 and A5084 link the Ambleside and Coniston areas with the A590 to the south whilst the

A592 The A592 road is a major route running north–south through the English Lake District. The road connects Penrith and junction 40 of the M6 motorway), with Staveley at the southern tip of the lake, Windermere, which is skirted by the A592 ...

and A5074 similarly link Windermere with the A590. The A592 also continues northwards from Windermere to

Ullswater Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being about long and wide, with a maximum depth a little over . It was scooped out by a glacier in the Last Ice Age. Geography It is a typical Lake District "ribbon lake", ...

and Penrith by way of the

Kirkstone Pass Kirkstone Pass is a mountain pass in the English Lake District, in the county of Cumbria. It is at an altitude of . It is the District's highest pass traversed by road, the A592 road between Ambleside in Rothay Valley and Patterdale in Ulls ...

. Some valleys which are not penetrated by A roads are served by B roads. The B5289 serves Lorton Vale and

Buttermere Buttermere is a lake in the Lake District in North West England. The adjacent village of Buttermere takes its name from the lake. Historically in Cumberland, the lake is now within the county of Cumbria. Owned by the National Trust, it forms pa ...

and links via the

Honister Pass Honister Pass is a mountain pass in the English Lake District. It is located on the B5289 road, linking Seatoller, in the valley of Borrowdale, to Gatesgarth at the southern end of Buttermere. The pass reaches an altitude of , making it ...

with

Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cumberland. It is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' ...

. The B5292 ascends the Whinlatter Pass from Lorton Vale before dropping down to

Braithwaite Braithwaite is a village in the northern Lake District, in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies just to the west of Keswick and to the east of the Grisedale Pike ridge, in the Borough of Allerdale. It forms part of the ...

near Keswick. The B5322 serves the valley of St John's in the Vale whilst

Great Langdale Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...

is served by the B5343. Other valleys such as

Little Langdale Little Langdale is a valley in the Lake District, England, containing Little Langdale Tarn and a hamlet also called Little Langdale. A second tarn, Blea Tarn, is in a hanging valley between Little Langdale and the larger Great Langdale to the ...

, Eskdale and Dunnerdale are served by minor roads. The last of these is connected with the first two by the Wrynose and Hardknott passes respectively; both of these passes are known for their steep gradients and are together one of the most popular climbs in the United Kingdom for cycling enthusiasts. A minor road through the

Newlands Valley The Newlands Valley is in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is regarded as one of the most picturesque and quiet valleys in the national park, even though it is situated very close to the popular tourist town of Keswick and ...

connects via

Newlands Hause The Newlands Pass, also known as Newlands Hause, is a mountain pass in the English Lake District. It is located on an unclassified road linking the Newlands Valley, to the west of Keswick and Derwent Water, with the village of Buttermere. The ...

with the B5289 at Buttermere.

Wasdale Wasdale () is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastw ...

is served by a cul-de-sac minor road, as is

Longsleddale Longsleddale () is a valley and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of the English county of Cumbria. It includes the hamlet of Sadgill. The parish has a population of 73. As the population taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100, deta ...

and the valleys at

Haweswater Haweswater is a reservoir in the valley of Mardale, Cumbria in the Lake District, England. Work to raise the height of the original natural lake was started in 1929. It was controversially dammed after the UK Parliament passed a Private Act ...

and

Kentmere Kentmere is a valley, village and civil parish in the Lake District National Park, a few miles from Kendal in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. Historically in Westmorland, at the 2011 census Kentmere had a population of 1 ...

. There are networks of minor roads in the lower-lying southern part of the area, connecting numerous communities between Kendal, Windermere, and Coniston.

Railways and ferries

The

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

skirts the eastern edge of the Lake District and the

Cumbrian Coast Line The Cumbrian Coast line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle railway station, Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues (as the Furnes ...

passes through the southern and western fringes of the area. A single railway line, the Windermere Branch Line, penetrates from Kendal to Windermere via Staveley. Railways once served Broughton-in-Furness and Coniston (closed to passengers in 1958) and another ran from Penrith to Cockermouth via Keswick (closed west of Keswick in 1966 and completely in 1972). Part of the track of the latter is used by the improved A66 trunk road. The

Cumbrian Coast line The Cumbrian Coast line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle railway station, Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues (as the Furnes ...

has three stations within the boundaries of the national park (and additionally

Drigg Drigg is a village situated in the civil parish of Drigg and Carleton on the West Cumbria coast of the Irish Sea and on the boundary of the Lake District National Park in the Borough of Copeland in the county of Cumbria, England. Drigg and ...

, about a third of a mile from the park boundary). The line gives railway enthusiasts and others a flavour of a pre- Beeching railway line, with features like manually operated level crossing gates, as well as giving a good connection to the steam railway into Eskdale and providing access for cyclists and serious walkers to the Western Fells. The narrow gauge

Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a minimum gauge heritage railway in Cumbria, England. The line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Station near Boot in the valley of Eskdale, in the Lake District. At Ravenglass the line ends at Raven ...

runs from

Ravenglass Ravenglass is a coastal village in the Copeland District in Cumbria, England. It is between Barrow-in-Furness and Whitehaven. Historically in Cumberland, it is the only coastal village in the Lake District National Park. It is located at the est ...

on the west coast up Eskdale as far as Dalegarth Station near the hamlet of Boot, catering for tourists. Another heritage railway, the

Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway The Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway (L&HR) is a heritage railway in Cumbria, England. Location The L&HR runs from Haverthwaite at the southern end of the line via Newby Bridge to Lakeside at the southern end of Windermere. Some services a ...

, runs between Lake Windermere and

Haverthwaite Haverthwaite is a small village and civil parish in the Furness region of Cumbria, England. It is also within the boundaries of the Lake District National Park. It is located several miles east of Ulverston and is near the southern end of Winde ...

, and tourists can connect at Lakeside with the boats up the lake to Bowness. A vehicle-carrying

cable ferry A cable ferry (including the terms chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

, the

Windermere Ferry The Windermere Ferry is a vehicular cable ferry which crosses Windermere, a lake in the English county of Cumbria. The ferry route forms part of the B5285 road and crosses the lake at about its midpoint, from Ferry Nab in Bowness-on-Windermere to ...

, runs frequent services across Windermere. There are also seasonal passenger boats on Coniston Water, Derwent Water, and Ullswater.

Footpaths and bridleways

There are many paths over which the public has a

right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

, all of which should be signposted. Within the area of the National Park in 2012 there were of public footpaths, of public bridleways, of restricted byways and of

byways open to all traffic In England and Wales, other than in the 12 Inner London boroughs and the City of London, the right of way is a legally protected right of the public to pass and re-pass on specific paths. The law in England and Wales differs from Scots law in ...

. There is also a general " right to roam" in open country. Many of these tracks arose centuries ago and were used either as ridge highways (such as along

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

) or as passes for travelling across the ridges between settlements in the valleys. Historically these paths were not planned for reaching summits, but more recently they are used by fell walkers for that purpose. Cycling and horse riding are allowed on bridleways, but cyclists must give way to all other users. Motor vehicles are only allowed on "byways open to all traffic" (

green lanes Green Lanes may refer to: *A green lane (road), a type of road, usually an unpaved rural route. *Green Lanes (London), a major road running through north London * Harringay, a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Haringey The London Borough o ...

) but in practice Traffic Regulation Orders have been brought in on several prohibiting motor traffic, although a system of permits operates on Gatesgarth Pass.

Physical geography

The Lake District is a roughly circular upland

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

, deeply dissected by a broadly radial pattern of major valleys which are largely the result of repeated

glaciations A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

over the last 2 million years. The apparent radial pattern is not from a central dome, but from an axial watershed extending from St Bees Head in the west to Shap in the east. Most of these valleys display the U-shaped cross-section characteristic of glacial origin and often contain long narrow lakes in bedrock hollows, with tracts of relatively flat ground at their infilled heads, or where they are divided by lateral tributaries (Buttermere-Crummock Water; Derwent Water-Bassenthwaite Lake). Smaller lakes known as

tarns A tarn (or corrie loch) is a proglacial mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn. Etymology The word is derived from the Old Norse word ''tjörn'' ("a small mount ...

occupy glacial cirques at higher elevations. It is the abundance of both which has led to the area becoming known as the Lake District. The mountains of the Lake District are known as the "Cumbrian Mountains", "Cumbrian Fells" or "Lakeland Fells". As the highest ground in England,

(978m/3210') has a far-reaching view on a clear day, ranging from the Galloway Hills of Scotland, the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and

Snowdonia Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the na ...

in Wales. Many of the higher

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...

s are rocky, while moorland predominates lower down. Vegetation cover in better-drained areas includes

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eggs ...

and heather, though much of the land is boggy, due to the high rainfall. Deciduous native woodland occurs on many of the steeper slopes below the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snow ...

, but with native oak supplemented by extensive conifer plantations in many areas, particularly

Grizedale Forest Grizedale Forest is a 24.47 km2 area of woodland in the Lake District of North West England, located to the east of Coniston Water and to the south of Hawkshead. It is made up of a number of hills, small tarns and the settlements of Grizeda ...

in the generally lower southern part of the area. The Lake District extends to the sea to the west and south.

Fells (mountains and hills)

The four highest mountains in the Lake District exceed . These are: *

, *

Scafell Scafell ( or ; also spelled Sca Fell, previously Scawfell) is a mountain in the English Lake District, part of the Southern Fells. Its height of makes it the second-highest mountain in England after its neighbour Scafell Pike, from which ...

, *

Helvellyn Helvellyn (; possible meaning: ''pale yellow moorland'') is a mountain in the English Lake District, the highest point of the Helvellyn range, a north–south line of mountains to the north of Ambleside, between the lakes of Thirlmere and Ul ...

, * Skiddaw,

Northern Fells

The

Northern Fells The Northern Fells are a mountain range in the English Lake District. Including Skiddaw, they occupy a wide area to the north of Keswick. Smooth, sweeping slopes predominate, with a minimum of tarns or crags. Blencathra in the south-east of the ...

are a clearly defined range of hills contained within a diameter circle between Keswick in the southwest and

Caldbeck Caldbeck is a village in Cumbria, England, historically within Cumberland, it is situated within the Lake District National Park. The village had 714 inhabitants according to the census of 2001. Caldbeck is closely associated with neighbouring ...

in the northeast. They culminate in the peak of Skiddaw. Other notable peaks are

Blencathra Blencathra, also known as Saddleback, is one of the most northerly hills in the English Lake District. It has six separate fell tops, of which the highest is the Hallsfell Top at 2,848 feet (868 metres). Name For many years, Ordnance Sur ...

(also known as Saddleback) () and Carrock Fell.

occupies the valley between this massif and the North Western Fells.

North Western Fells

The North Western Fells lie between

and Bassenthwaite Lake to the east and Buttermere and Lorton Vale to the west. Their southernmost point is at

. This area includes the Derwent Fells above the

and hills to the north amongst which are Dale Head,

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960 ...

. To the north stand Grasmoor, highest in the range at ,

Grisedale Pike Grisedale Pike is a fell in the Lake District, Cumbria, England, situated west of the town of Keswick in the north-western sector of the national park. At a height of 791 m (2593 feet) it is the 40th-highest Wainwright in th ...

and the hills around the valley of Coledale, and in the far northwest is Thornthwaite Forest and

Lord's Seat Lord's Seat is a fell in the English Lake District. It is the highest of the group of hills north of Whinlatter Pass in the North Western Fells. The slopes of Lord's Seat are extensively forested. Topography The North Western Fells occupy ...

. The fells in this area are rounded

Skiddaw slate Skiddaw slate is an early Ordovician metamorphosed sedimentary rock, as first identified on the slopes of Skiddaw in the English Lake District. The base of this series is unknown. The thickness could, therefore, amount to several thousand feet of ...

, with few tarns and relatively few rock faces.

Western Fells

The Western Fells lie between Buttermere and

, with Sty Head forming the apex of a large triangle. Ennerdale bisects the area, which consists of the

High Stile High Stile is a mountain in the western part of the Lake District in North West England. It is the eleventh-highest English Marilyn, standing 807 metres (2,648 ft) high, and has a relative height of 362 metres (1,187 ft). I ...

ridge north of Ennerdale, the Loweswater Fells in the far northwest, the

Pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

group in the southwest, and

Great Gable Great Gable is a mountain in the Lake District, United Kingdom. It is named after its appearance as a pyramid from Wasdale, though it is dome-shaped from most other directions. It is one of the most popular of the Lakeland fells, and there are ...

() near Sty Head. Other tops include

Seatallan Seatallan is a mountain in the western part of the English Lake District. It is rounded, grassy and fairly unassuming, occupying a large amount of land. However, it is classed as a Marilyn because of the low elevation of the col connecting it to ...

, Haystacks and

Kirk Fell Kirk Fell is a fell in the Western part of the English Lake District. It is situated between Great Gable and Pillar on the long ring of fells surrounding the valley of Ennerdale, and also stands over Wasdale to the south. However, it is sepa ...

. This area is craggy and steep, with the impressive pinnacle of Pillar Rock its showpiece.

Wastwater Wast Water or Wastwater () is a lake located in Wasdale, a valley in the western part of the Lake District National Park, England. The lake is almost long and more than wide. It is a glacial lake, formed in a glacially 'over-deepened' valle ...

, located in this part, is England's deepest lake.

Central Fells

The Central Fells are lower in elevation than surrounding areas of fell, peaking at at High Raise. They take the form of a ridge running between

Derwent Water Derwentwater, or Derwent Water, is one of the principal bodies of water in the Lake District National Park in north west England. It lies wholly within the Borough of Allerdale, in the county of Cumbria. The lake occupies part of Borrowda ...

in the west and

Thirlmere Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria and the English Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a number of fells; for instance, Armboth Fell and Raven Crag both ...

in the east, from Keswick in the north to

Langdale Pikes Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...

in the south. A spur extends southeast to Loughrigg Fell above Ambleside. The central ridge running north over High Seat is exceptionally boggy.

Eastern Fells

Glenridding, Cumbria, England - June 2009

The Eastern Fells consist of a long north-to-south ridge, the

Helvellyn range The Helvellyn range is the name given to a part of the Eastern Fells in the English Lake District, "fell" being the local word for "hill". The name comes from Helvellyn, the highest summit of the group. The Helvellyn range forms a ridge exten ...

, running from

Clough Head Clough Head () (meaning: ''hill-top above the ravine'') is a fell, or hill, in the English Lake District. It marks the northern end of the main ridge of the Helvellyn range and is often walked as part of the ridge walk. The fell stands south o ...

Seat Sandal Seat Sandal is a fell in the English Lake District, situated four kilometres (2½ miles) north of the village of Grasmere from where it is very well seen. Nevertheless, it tends to be overshadowed by its more illustrious neighbours in the Eas ...

with the

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 Patterdale (Saint Patrick's Dale) is a small village and civil parish in the eastern part of the English Lake District in the Eden District of Cumbria, in the traditional county of Westmorland, and the long valley in which they are found, also ...

valley. It culminates in the height of

Red Screes Red Screes is a fell in the English Lake District, situated between the villages of Patterdale and Ambleside. It may be considered an outlier of the Fairfield group in the Eastern Fells, but is separated from its neighbours by low cols. This g ...

overlooking the

Far Eastern Fells

The

Far Eastern Fells The Far Eastern Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Reaching their highest point at High Street (828 metres or 2.718 ft.), they occupy a broad area to the east of Ullswater and Kirkstone Pass. Much quieter than the ...

refers to all of the Lakeland fells to the east of Ullswater and the A592 road running south to Windermere. At , the peak known as

is the highest point on a complex ridge that runs broadly north-south and overlooks the hidden valley of

to its east. In the north of this region are the lower fells of Martindale Common and Bampton Common whilst in the south are the fells overlooking the

valley. Further to the east, beyond

Mardale Mardale is a glacial valley in the Lake District, in northern England. The valley used to have a hamlet at its head, called Mardale Green, but this village was submerged in the late 1930s when the water level of the valley's lake, Haweswater, w ...

and

Shap Shap is a linear village and civil parish located among fells and isolated dales in Eden district, Cumbria, England, in the historic county of Westmorland. The parish had a population of 1,221 in 2001, increasing slightly to 1,264 at the 2011 ...

Fell, an extensive area consisting of high moorland, more rolling and Pennine in nature than the mountains to the west.

Southern Fells

The

Southern Fells Image:Annotated Scafell range.jpg, 300px, The Scafells rect 23 372 252 419 Slight Side (762 m) rect 173 794 560 834 Scafell East Buttress rect 707 787 893 861 Esk Pike or Crag (885 m) rect 245 303 409 358 Sca Fell (964 m) rect 408 238 637 2 ...

occupy the southwestern quarter of the Lake District. They can be regarded as comprising a northern grouping between Wasdale, Eskdale, and the two Langdale valleys, a southeastern group east of Dunnerdale and south of Little Langdale, and a southwestern group bounded by Eskdale to the north and Dunnerdale to the east. The first group includes England's highest mountains:

in the centre, at and

to the southwest. Though it is slightly lower it has a rockface, Scafell Crag, on its northern side. It also includes the Wastwater Screes overlooking Wasdale, the Glaramara ridge overlooking Borrowdale, the three tops of

Crinkle Crags Crinkle Crags is a fell in the English Lake District in the county of Cumbria. It forms part of two major rings of mountains, surrounding the valleys of Great Langdale and Upper Eskdale. The name reflects the fell's physical appearance ...

, Bowfell and Esk Pike. The core of the area is drained by the infant River Esk. Collectively these are some of the Lake District's most rugged hillsides. The second group, otherwise known as the

Furness Fells The Furness Fells are a multitude of hills and mountains in the Furness region of Cumbria, England. Historically part of Lancashire, the Furness Fells or High Furness is the name given to the upland part of Furness, that is, that part of Furness ...

or Coniston Fells, have as their northern boundary the steep and narrow Hardknott and Wrynose passes. The highest are

Old Man of Coniston The Old Man of Coniston is a fell in the Furness Fells in the Cumbria, English Lake District and is the highest point (county top) of the historic county of Lancashire. It is at least high, and lies to the west of the village of Coniston and ...

and

Swirl How Swirl How is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands between Coniston and the Duddon Valley in the southern part of the District. It rivals the Old Man of Coniston as the highest point within the traditional County Palatine of Lancashir ...

which slightly exceed . The third group to the west of the Duddon includes 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 Kirkby Moor is a poorly defined moorland area in southern Cumbria, England, named after the village of Kirkby-in-Furness, but stretching both sides of the A5092 road, and thus spanning the border of the Lake District National Park. The highes ...

on the southern boundary. The southwestern Lake District ends near the

Furness Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria in northwestern England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, historically an exclave of Lancashire. The Furness Peninsula, also known as Low Furness, is an area of vill ...

peninsula and Barrow-in-Furness, a town which many Lake District residents rely on for basic amenities.

Southeastern area

The southeastern area is the territory between

Coniston Water Coniston Water in the English county of Cumbria is the third-largest lake in the Lake District by volume (after Windermere and Ullswater), and the fifth-largest by area. It is five miles long by half a mile wide (8 km by 800 m), has ...

and

and east of Windermere towards Kendal and south to Lindale. There are no high summits in this area which are mainly low hills, knolls and limestone

cuesta A cuesta (from Spanish ''cuesta'' "slope") is a hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on the other. In geology the term is more specifically applied to a ridge where a harder sedimentary rock overlies a softer laye ...

s such as Gummer's How and

Whitbarrow Whitbarrow is a hill in Cumbria, England. Designated a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and national nature reserve, it forms part of the Morecambe Bay Pavements Special Area of Conservation due to its supporting some of the bes ...

. Indeed, it rises only as high as at Top o' Selside east of Coniston Water; the wide expanse of

stands between the two lakes. Kendal and

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second larges ...

stand at the eastern and southern edges of the area.

Valleys

The main radial valleys are (clockwise from the south) Dunnerdale, Eskdale,

, Ennerdale, the Vale of Lorton, and Buttermere valley, the Derwent Valley and

, the Ullswater valley, Haweswater valley,

, the

valley, those converging on the head of Windermere - Grasmere,

and Little Langdale, and the Coniston Water valley. The valleys break the mountains up into blocks, which have been described by various authors in different ways. The most frequently encountered approach is that made popular by

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

who published seven separate area guides to the Lakeland Fells.

Lakes

Only one of the lakes in the Lake District is called by that name,

. All the others such as

and

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. *

* Brotherswater *

Crummock Water Crummock Water is a lake in the Lake District in Cumbria, North West England situated between Buttermere to the south and Loweswater to the north. Crummock Water is long, wide and deep. The River Cocker is considered to start at the north of ...

* Devoke Water * Elter Water *

Ennerdale Water Ennerdale Water is the most westerly lake in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is a glacial lake, with a maximum depth of 150 feet (45 metres), and is ½ mile to a mile (700 to 1,500 metres) wide and 2½ miles (3.9 kilo ...

Esthwaite Water Esthwaite Water is one of the smaller and lesser known lakes in the Lake District National Park in northern England. It is situated between the much larger lakes of Windermere and Coniston Water, in the traditional county of Lancashire; since 1 ...

* Grasmere *

Haweswater Reservoir Haweswater is a reservoir in the valley of Mardale, Cumbria in the Lake District, England. Work to raise the height of the original natural lake was started in 1929. It was controversially dammed after the UK Parliament passed a Private Ac ...

Hayeswater Hayeswater is a small lake within the Lake District of Cumbria, England. The lake is situated about a mile (1.6 km) SE of the hamlet of Hartsop in the Patterdale Valley. It nestles between The Knott to its east and Gray Crag to the we ...

Loweswater Loweswater is one of the smaller lakes in the English Lake District. The village of Loweswater is situated to the east of the lake. Geography The lake is not far from Cockermouth and is also easily reached from elsewhere in West Cumbria. Th ...

Rydal Water Rydal Water is a small body of water in the central part of the English Lake District, in the county of Cumbria. It is located near the hamlet of Rydal, between Grasmere and Ambleside in the Rothay Valley.Parker, 2004, page 35 The lake is 1, ...

Woodlands

Below the

are wooded areas, including British and European native

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

woodlands and introduced softwood plantations. The woodlands provide habitats for native English wildlife. The native red squirrel is found in the Lake District and a few other parts of England. In parts of the Lake District, the rainfall is higher than in any other part of England. This gives

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

mosses,

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

s, lichen, and

liverwort The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of ...

s the chance to grow. There is some

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

in the National Park. Management of the woodlands varies: some are

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

d, some

pollarded Pollarding is a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, which promotes the growth of a dense head of foliage and branches. In ancient Rome, Propertius mentioned pollarding during the 1st century BCE. The practice oc ...

, some left to grow naturally, and some provide grazing and shelter.

Coast

The Lake District extends to the coast of the Irish Sea from

in the north to Silecroft in the south, encompassing the

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environmen ...

of the Esk and its tributaries, the Irt and the

Mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear e ...

. The intertidal zone of the combined estuaries includes sand, shingle and mudflats, and

saltmarsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

. The dune systems on either side of the estuary are protected as nature reserves; Drigg Dunes and Gullery to the north and Eskmeals Dunes to the south. South of the estuary, the coast is formed in low cliffs of glacial

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

, sands, and gravels. The district also extends to the tidal waters of

and several of its estuaries alongside the

and

Cartmel Peninsula Cartmel Peninsula is a peninsula in Cumbria in England. It juts in a southerly direction into Morecambe Bay, bordered by the estuaries of the River Leven to the west and the River Winster to the east. It is, along with the Furness Peninsula, ...

s, designated on M6 motorway signposts as the "Lake District Peninsulas", and the southern portions of which lie outside the park. These are the

Duddon Estuary The Duddon Estuary is the sandy, gritty estuary of the River Duddon that lies between Morecambe Bay and the North Lonsdale coast. The River Duddon and its estuary form part of the boundary of the historic county of Lancashire. It opens into th ...

, the

Leven Estuary The River Leven (pron. ) is a short river in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, falling within the historic boundaries of Lancashire. It drains Windermere from its southernmost point and flows for approximately into the northern reaches of Mo ...

, and the western banks and tidal flats of the

Kent Estuary Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. These areas are each characterised by sand and mudflats of scenic and wildlife interest. The coast is backed by extensive flats of raised marine deposits left when the relative sea level was higher.

Geology

The Lake District's geology is very complex but well-studied.Gannon, ''Rock Trails Lakeland'' A

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

batholith beneath the area is responsible for this upland massif, its relatively low density causing the area to be "buoyed up". The granite can be seen at the surface as the Ennerdale, Skiddaw, Carrock Fell, Eskdale, and Shap granites. Broadly speaking the area can be divided into three bands, divisions which run southwest to the northeast. Generally speaking, the rocks become younger from the northwest to the southeast. The northwestern band is composed of early to mid-

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. T ...

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s, largely mudstones and siltstones of marine origin. Together they comprise the Skiddaw Group and include the rocks traditionally known as the

Skiddaw Slate Skiddaw slate is an early Ordovician metamorphosed sedimentary rock, as first identified on the slopes of Skiddaw in the English Lake District. The base of this series is unknown. The thickness could, therefore, amount to several thousand feet of ...

s. Their

friability Friability ( ), the condition of being friable, describes the tendency of a solid substance to break into smaller pieces under duress or contact, especially by rubbing. The opposite of friable is indurate. Substances that are designated hazardous, ...

generally leads to mountains with relatively smooth slopes such as Skiddaw itself. The central band is a mix of

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

and sedimentary rocks of mid-to-late Ordovician age comprising the

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

s and

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

s of the

Borrowdale Volcanic Group The Borrowdale Volcanic Group is a group of igneous rock formations named after the Borrowdale area of the Lake District, in England. They are Caradocian (late Ordovician) in age (roughly 450 million years old). It is thought that they represent t ...

, erupted as the former Iapetus Ocean was

subducted Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

beneath what is now the Scottish border during the

Caledonian orogeny The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building era recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Mountains, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that ...

. The northern central peaks, such as Great Rigg, were produced by considerable lava flows. These lava eruptions were followed by a series of pyroclastic eruptions which produced a series of calderas, one of which includes present-day Scafell Pike. These pyroclastic rocks give rise to the craggy landscapes typical of the central fells. The southeastern band comprises the mudstones and wackes of the Windermere Supergroup and which includes (successively) the rocks of the Dent, Stockdale, Tranearth, Coniston, and Kendal groups. These are generally a little less resistant to erosion than the sequence of the rock to the north and underlie much of the lower landscapes around Coniston and Windermere. Later intrusions have formed individual outcrops of

igneous rock Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma o ...

in each of these groups. Around the edges of these Ordovician and Silurian rocks on the northern, eastern, and southern fringes of the area is a semi-continuous outcrop of

Carboniferous Limestone Carboniferous Limestone is a collective term for the succession of limestones occurring widely throughout Great Britain and Ireland that were deposited during the Dinantian epoch (geology), Epoch of the Carboniferous period (geology), Period. T ...

seen most spectacularly at places like Whitbarrow Scar and Scout Scar.

Climate

The Lake District's location on the northwest coast of England, coupled with its mountainous geography, makes it the wettest part of England. The UK Met Office reports average annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

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, as the Lake District experiences relief rainfall. Seathwaite, Borrowdale is the wettest inhabited place in England 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

receives every 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. Although sheltered valleys experience

gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, at the same latitude, ranges from .) 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 snowfall only occurs between November and April. On average, snow falls on

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

Red squirrels warning signs, Lake District

The Lake District is home to a great variety of wildlife, because of its varied topography, lakes, and forests. It provides a home for the red squirrel and colonies of

sundew ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginou ...

and

butterwort ''Pinguicula'', commonly known as the butterworts, is a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. They use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition ...

, two of the few carnivorous plants native to Britain. The Lake District is a major sanctuary for the red squirrel and has the largest population in England (out of the estimated 140,000 red squirrels in the United Kingdom, compared with about 2.5 million

grey squirrels Gray squirrel or grey squirrel may refer to several species of squirrel indigenous to North America: *The eastern gray squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis''), from the eastern United States and southeastern Canada; introduced into the United Kingdom, I ...

). The Lake District is home to a range of bird species, and the RSPB maintain a reserve in Haweswater. England's last nesting pair of

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of ...

s was found in the Lake District; the female was last seen in 2004 and the male was last seen in 2015. Following recolonisation attempts, a pair of

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

s nested in the Lake District for the first time in over 150 years near

during 2001. Ospreys now frequently migrate north from Africa in the spring to nest in the Lake District, and a total of 23 chicks have fledged in the area since 2001. Another raptor that has had recolonisation attempts is the

red kite The red kite (''Milvus milvus'') is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species currently breeds in the Western Palearctic region o ...

which, as of 2012, has a population of approximately 90 in the dense forest areas near Grizedale and successfully bred in 2014, the first breeding success in Cumbria in over 200 years. Conservationists hope the reintroduction will create a large population in the Lake District and in North West England where red kite numbers are low. Other bird species resident to the Lake District include the

buzzard Buzzard is the common name of several species of birds of prey. ''Buteo'' species * Archer's buzzard (''Buteo archeri'') * Augur buzzard (''Buteo augur'') * Broad-winged hawk (''Buteo platypterus'') * Common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') * Eastern ...

dipper Dippers are members of the genus ''Cinclus'' in the bird family Cinclidae, so-called because of their bobbing or dipping movements. They are unique among passerines for their ability to dive and swim underwater. Taxonomy The genus ''Cinclus'' ...

, peregrine and

common raven The common raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level; there are at least ...

. Seasonal birds include the

ring ouzel The ring ouzel (''Turdus torquatus'') is a mainly European member of the thrush family Turdidae. It is a medium-sized thrush, in length and weighing . The male is predominantly black with a conspicuous white crescent across its breast. Females ...

and the

common redstart The common redstart (''Phoenicurus phoenicurus''), or often simply redstart, is a small passerine bird in the genus '' Phoenicurus''. Like its relatives, it was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family, (Turdidae), but is now known to be ...

. The lakes of the Lake District support three rare and endangered species of fish. The vendace is found only in Derwent Water and, until 2008, Bassenthwaite Lake. Vendace have struggled in recent years with naturally occurring algae becoming a threat and the lakes gradually getting warmer. Vendace have been moved to higher lakes on a number of occasions to preserve the species, notably in 2005 and 2011. The Lakes are also home to two other rare species: the

schelly The schelly (''Coregonus stigmaticus'') is a living fresh water fish of the salmon family, endemic to four lakes in the Lake District, England. Its taxonomy is disputed with some recognizing it as a distinct species and others as a variant of t ...

, which lives in Brothers Water, Haweswater, Red Tarn and Ullswater, and the

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populat ...

r, which can be found in Buttermere, Coniston Water, Crummock Water, Ennerdale Water, Haweswater, Loweswater, Thirlmere, Wast Water, and Windermere. CoregonusVandesius

In recent years, important changes have been made to fisheries byelaws covering the northwest region of England, to help protect some of the rarest fish species. In 2002, the Environment Agency introduced a new fisheries byelaw, banning the use of all freshwater fish as live or dead bait in 14 of the lakes in the Lake District: Bassenthwaite Lake, Brothers Water, Buttermere, Coniston Water, Crummock Water, Derwent Water, Ennerdale Water, Haweswater, Loweswater, Red Tarn, Thirlmere, Ullswater, Wast Water, and Windermere. Anglers not complying with the new byelaw can face fines of up to £2,500. 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 the 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 The Eurasian ruffe (''Gymnocephalus cernua''), also known as ruffe or pope, is a freshwater fish found in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It has been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America, reportedly with unfortuna ...

. This non-native fish has now been introduced into several lakes in recent years. It is known that ruffe eats 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.

Economy

Agriculture and forestry

Farming, and in particular

sheep farming Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat (lamb and mutton), milk (sheep's milk), and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin an ...

, has been the major industry in the region since

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

times. The breed most closely associated with the area is the tough

Herdwick The Herdwick is a breed of domestic sheep native to the Lake District in North West England. The name "Herdwick" is derived from the Old Norse ''herdvyck'', meaning sheep pasture. Though low in lambing capacity and perceived wool quality when ...

, with Rough Fell and

Swaledale Swaledale is one of the northernmost dales (valleys) in Yorkshire Dales National Park, located in northern England. It is the dale of the River Swale on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire. Geographical overview Swaledale runs ...

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 wall Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...

s, for example, are there as a result of sheep farming. Some land is also used for

silage Silage () is a type of fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation to the point of acidification. It can be fed to cattle, sheep and other such ruminants (cud-chewing animals). The fermentation and storage ...

and

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...

. The area was badly affected by the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease across the United Kingdom in 2001. The outbreak started in Surrey in February but had spread to

by end of March. Thousands of sheep, including the native

s which graze 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 relearnt and some of the fells have had discreet

electric fence An electric fence is a barrier that uses electric shocks to deter people or animals from crossing a boundary. The voltage of the shock may have effects ranging from discomfort to death. Most electric fences are used for agricultural fencing a ...

s strung across them for a period of five years, to allow the sheep to "re-heaf". At the time of the outbreak, worries existed about the future of certain species of sheep such as

Ryeland The Ryeland is one of the oldest English sheep breeds going back seven centuries when the monks of Leominster in Herefordshire bred sheep and grazed them on the rye pastures, giving them their name. It was introduced into Australia in 1919 and a ...

and Herdwick in the district, however these fears have been allayed and sheep now occupy the district in abundance. Thirleme 069

Forestry has also assumed greater importance over the last century with the establishment of extensive conifer plantations around Whinlatter Pass, in Ennerdale, and at

among other places. There are extensive plantations of non-native pine trees.

Industry

With its wealth of rock types and their abundance in the landscape, mining and quarrying have long been significant activities in the Lake District economy. In

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

times, the Lake District was a major source of stone

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

s, 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 The Langdale axe industry (or factory) is the name given by archaeologists to a Neolithic centre of specialised stone tool production in the Great Langdale area of the English Lake District. (For accompanying material seSupplement 1of same vo ...

. Some of the earliest stone circles in Britain are connected with this industry. Mining, particularly of copper, lead (often associated with quantities of silver), baryte,

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on lar ...

, and slate, was historically a major Lakeland industry, mainly from the 16th to 19th centuries. 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

. Abandoned mine workings can be found on fellsides throughout the district. The locally mined graphite led to the development of the

pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail ...

industry, especially around Keswick. Lake District near Torver

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 Celia Fiennes (7 June 1662 – 10 April 1741) was an English traveller and writer. She explored England on horseback at a time when travel for its own sake was unusual, especially for women. Early life Born at Newton Tony, Wiltshire,"June 7t ...

who in 1698 undertook a journey the length of England, including riding through Kendal and over

into

. 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

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 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 appreciate 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

below Claife Heights) can be visited today.

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 southwest of the Lake District. The railways led to another expansion in tourism. The

Kendal and Windermere Railway The Kendal and Windermere Railway built a branch line from the main line to Kendal and on to Windermere, in Cumbria in north-west England. It was promoted by local interests in Kendal when it became clear that the Lancaster and Carlisle Railw ...

was the first to penetrate the Lake District, reaching Kendal in 1846 and

in 1847. The line to Coniston opened in 1848 (although until 1857 this was only linked to the national network with ferries between

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830s, when the principal lando ...

and Barrow-in-Furness); the line from Penrith through Keswick to

in 1865; and the line to Lakeside at the foot of

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

, Windermere,

, and

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 any restriction on the movement of people into and around the district. The

M6 Motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at ...

helped bring traffic to the Lake District, passing up its eastern flank. The narrow roads present a challenge for traffic flow and, since the 1960s, certain areas have been very congested. This problem continues with traffic congestion and parking problems in the small communities.

addressed the parking issue with a new lot at the edge of the community and by extending an existing car park. The Lake District NP publishes a list and map of car parks within its authority, allowing tourists to plan their visits accordingly. Whilst the roads and railways provided easier access to the area, many people were drawn to Lakeland by the publication of the ''

Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells ''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' is a series of seven books by A. Wainwright, detailing the fells (the local word for hills and mountains) of the Lake District in northwest England. Written over a period of 13 years from 1952, they ...

'' by

. First published between 1955 and 1966, these books provided detailed information on 214 fells 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 Wainwrights are the 214 English peaks (known locally as '' fells'') described in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume '' Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' (1955–66). They all lie within the boundary of the Lake District National Park in Cum ...

''. The famous guides were revised by Chris Jesty between 2005 and 2009 to reflect changes, mainly in valley access and paths, and are currently being revised by Clive Hutchby, the author of The Wainwright Companion. The first of the revised volumes, Book One: The Eastern Fells, was published in March 2015; the most recent, Book Six: The North Western Fells, was published in April 2019. Since the early 1960s, the National Park Authority has employed rangers to help cope with increasing tourism and development, the first being John Wyatt, who has since written several 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 the writer

. Several 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 12 million visitors each year, mainly from the UK's larger settlements, China, Japan, Spain, Germany, and the US. Windermere Lake Steamers are Cumbria's most popular charging tourist attraction with about 1.35 million paying customers each year, 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 overused paths. In 2006, two tourist information centres in the National Park were closed. Cycling is now popular in the Lake District National Park. A number of long-distance cycle routes go through the Lake District, including coast to coast cycle routes such as the

C2C Trenitalia c2c Limited,Companies House extract company no 789726 ...

, Hadrian's Cycleway, the Reivers Route and the Walney to Wear route. Several towns have also become hubs for road-cycling holidays and cycle touring, such as Keswick and Ambleside. Mountain bikers use the trails constructed at Whinlatter Forest and Grizedale Forest and also have wilder routes available on bridleways. 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 A repertoire () is a list or set of dramas, operas, musical compositions or roles which a company or person is prepared to perform. Musicians often have a musical repertoire. The first known use of the word ''repertoire'' was in 1847. It is a ...

, Christmas and Easter productions, and the many literature, film, mountaineering, jazz, and creative arts festivals, such as the Kendal Mountain Festival and the Keswick Mountain Festival. Two museums, The World of Beatrix Potter and

Dove Cottage Dove Cottage is a house on the edge of Grasmere in the Lake District of England. It is best known as the home of the poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth from December 1799 to May 1808, where they spent over eight years of ...

& The Wordsworth Museum, are also important aspects of the region.

Gastronomy

Excellent mutton and lamb have been produced locally for generations and traditionally formed the basis of the region's many rustic dishes, such as Tatie Pot, a potato-topped mutton casserole. The Traditional

Cumberland Sausage Cumberland sausage is a pork sausage that originated in the ancient county of Cumberland, England, now part of Cumbria. It is traditionally very long, up to , and sold rolled in a flat, circular coil, but within western Cumbria, it is more often s ...

is a spiced, unlinked pork sausage with

Protected Geographical Status Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect nam ...

. The Lake District now has a growing reputation for its fine dining although standard pub and cafe fare continues to dominate. There are 5 Michelin Star restaurants within the World Heritage Site boundaries, with a further one less than a mile outside ( L'Enclume). Those inside the area are: The Cottage in the Wood, Allium at Askham Hall, Old Stamp House (Ambleside), the Forest Side, and Hrishi, one of the two restaurants at the Gilpin Hotel, Cumbria has many

microbreweries Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

, together with Jennings Brewery they supply a variety of ales to pubs and restaurants throughout the region.

Literature and the arts

The Lake District has inspired creativity in many fields. Mountain mist, sun rise (Lake District)

Literature

The District is intimately associated with English literature of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his '' Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,'' published in 1751. G ...

was the first to bring the region to attention, when he wrote a journal of his

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...

in 1769, but it was

whose poems were most famous and influential. Wordsworth's poem "

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (also commonly known as "Daffodils") is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is one of his most popular, and was inspired by a forest encounter on 15 April 1802 between he, his younger sister Dorothy and a "lo ...

", inspired by the sight of

daffodils ''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plant, perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as ''Ste ...

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

, and afterward living in Grasmere (1799–1813) and

Rydal Mount Rydal Mount is a house in the small village of Rydal, near Ambleside in the English Lake District. It is best known as the home of the poet William Wordsworth from 1813 to his death in 1850. It is currently operated as a writer's home museu ...

(1813–50). Wordsworth,

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

and Southey became known as the

. The poet and his wife are buried in the churchyard of Grasmere; very near to them are the remains of

Hartley Coleridge Hartley Coleridge, possibly David Hartley Coleridge (19 September 1796 – 6 January 1849), was an English poet, biographer, essayist, and teacher. He was the eldest son of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His sister Sara Coleridge was a poet a ...

(son of the poet

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

), who himself lived for many years in Keswick, Ambleside, and Grasmere.

Robert Southey Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...

, the

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

and friend of Wordsworth (who would succeed Southey as Laureate in 1843), 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. The Lake District is mentioned in Jane Austen's '' Pride and Prejudice'';

Elizabeth Bennet Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist in the 1813 novel ''Pride and Prejudice'' by Jane Austen. She is often referred to as Eliza or Lizzy by her friends and family. Elizabeth is the second child in a family of five daughters. Though the circu ...

look forward to a holiday there with her aunt and uncle and is "excessively disappointed" upon learning they cannot travel that far. The opening of Charlotte Turner Smith's novel ''Ethelinde'' with its atmospheric description of Grasmere, complete with a Gothic abbey, is supposed to have induced Wordsworth into looking to it as a possible place of residence. From 1807 to 1815 John Wilson lived at Windermere.

Thomas de Quincey Thomas Penson De Quincey (; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his '' Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821). Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quinc ...

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 Harriet Martineau (; 12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist often seen as the first female sociologist, focusing on race relations within much of her published material.Michael R. Hill (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretic ...

, who built herself a house there in 1845. At Keswick, Mrs. Lynn Linton (wife of

William James Linton William James Linton (December 7, 1812December 29, 1897) was an English-born American wood-engraver, landscape painter, political reformer and author of memoirs, novels, poetry and non-fiction. Birth and early years Born in Mile End, east Lon ...

) was born, in 1822.

Brantwood Brantwood is a historic house museum in Cumbria, England, overlooking Coniston Water. It has been the home of a number of prominent people. The house and grounds are administered by a charitable trust, the house being a museum dedicated to Jo ...

, a house beside Coniston Water, was the home of

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 Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

, Arthur Hugh Clough,

Henry Crabb Robinson Henry Crabb Robinson (13 May 1775 – 5 February 1867) was an English lawyer, remembered as a diarist. He took part in founding London University. Life Robinson was born in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, third and youngest son of Henry Robinson ( ...

, "Conversation" Sharp,

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

, John Keats,

Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...

Felicia Hemans Felicia Dorothea Hemans (25 September 1793 – 16 May 1835) was an English poet (who identified as Welsh by adoption). Two of her opening lines, "The boy stood on the burning deck" and "The stately homes of England", have acquired classic statu ...

and

Gerald Massey Gerald Massey (; 29 May 1828 – 29 October 1907) was an English poet and writer on Spiritualism and Ancient Egypt. Early life Massey was born near Tring, Hertfordshire in England to poor parents. When little more than a child, he was made t ...

. Although it is unlikely she ever went there,

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

produced no less than sixteen poems on subjects within the Lake District and its surroundings, all associated with engravings within Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Books, from 1832 to 1838. Also included there (1834) is ''Grasmere Lake (A Sketch by a Cockney)'', a skit on becoming a 'lakes poet'. During the early 20th century, the children's author

was in residence at Hill Top Farm, setting many of her famous

Peter Rabbit Peter Rabbit is a fictional animal character in various children's stories by English author Beatrix Potter. A mischievous, adventurous young rabbit who wears a blue jacket, he first appeared in ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in 1902, and subs ...

books in the Lake District. Her life was made into a biopic film, starring

Renée Zellweger Renée Kathleen Zellweger (; born April 25, 1969) is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, she was one of the world's highest-paid ...

and

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...

. Children's author Arthur Ransome lived in several areas of the Lake District, and set five of his

Swallows and Amazons series The ''Swallows and Amazons'' series is a series of twelve children's adventure novels by English author Arthur Ransome. Set in the interwar period, the novels involve group adventures by children, mainly in the school holidays and mainly in Eng ...

of books, published between 1930 and 1947, in a fictionalised Lake District setting. So did

Geoffrey Trease (Robert) Geoffrey Trease FRSL (11 August 1909 – 27 January 1998) was a prolific British writer who published 113 books, mainly for children, between 1934 and 1997, starting with '' Bows Against the Barons'' and ending with ''Cloak for a Spy'' ...

with his five Black Banner school stories (1949–56), starting with ''

No Boats on Bannermere ''No Boats on Bannermere'' is a 1949 children's novel by Geoffrey Trease, and the first of his five Bannerdale novels. They are school stories set in Cumberland, in the Lake District. Plot summary William Melbury and his younger sister Susa ...

''. The novelist

Sir Hugh Walpole Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (13 March 18841 June 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among th ...

lived at "Brackenburn" on the lower slopes of Catbells overlooking Derwent Water from 1924 until he died 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 Norman Cornthwaite Nicholson (8 January 1914 – 30 May 1987) was an English poet associated with the Cumbrian town of Millom. His poetry is noted for local concerns, straightforward language, and elements of common speech. Although known chief ...

came from the southwest lakes, living and writing about

in the 20th century – he was known as the last of the

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'', which later turned into a television drama. The Lake District is the setting for the 1977 Richard Adams' novel ''

The Plague Dogs ''The Plague Dogs'' is the third novel by Richard Adams, author of ''Watership Down'', about the friendship of two dogs that escape an animal testing facility and are subsequently pursued by both the government and the media. It was first pub ...

''. Adams' knowledge of the area offers the reader a precise view of the natural beauty of the Lake District. The story is based on a fictionalised version of the remote hill farm of Lawson Park, overlooking Coniston Water. The Lake District has been the setting for crime novels by

Reginald Hill Reginald Charles Hill FRSL (3 April 193612 January 2012) was an English crime writer and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. Biography Hill was born to a "very ordinary" family ...

Val McDermid Valarie "Val" McDermid, (born 4 June 1955) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill in a grim sub-genre that McDermid and others have identified as Tartan Noir. Biography ...

and Martin Edwards. The region is also a recurring theme in

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

's 1926 novella ''

The Torrents of Spring ''The Torrents of Spring'' is a novella written by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1926. Subtitled "A Romantic Novel in Honor of the Passing of a Great Race", Hemingway used the work as a spoof of the world of writers. It is Hemingway's first lo ...

'' and features prominently in

Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...

's ''

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

'', which won the 1998 Booker Prize. The 1996 Eisner Award winning

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

'' The Tale of One Bad Rat'', by

Bryan Talbot Bryan Talbot (born 24 February 1952) is a British comics artist and writer, best known as the creator of ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' and its sequel '' Heart of Empire'', as well as the ''Grandville'' series of books. He collaborated ...

, features a young girl's journey to and subsequent stay in the Lake District. Also set in the District is Sophie Jackson's mystery novel ''The Woman Died Thrice''. It was published in 2016 under Jackson's pen name Evelyn James. Memoirist and nature writer James Rebanks has published several books about the Lake District, including two acclaimed books that detail his life as a sheep farmer: '' The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District'' (2015) and ''English Pastoral: An Inheritance'' (2020).

Visual arts

The Lakes have been an inspiration for many notable artists. Two of the most famous artists to depict the region in their work were

Alfred Heaton Cooper Alfred Heaton Cooper (1863–1929) was an English watercolour artist. He is known for his landscapes of the English Lake District and Norway, and for illustrating several travel guidebooks. __NOTOC__ Life and work Cooper was born in Halliwell, ...

and William Heaton Cooper. The German artist

Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, Constructivism (art), constructivism, surrealism ...

visited the Lake District while in exile in Great Britain and moved there permanently in June 1945, remaining there for the rest of his life. Film director Ken Russell lived in the Keswick/Borrowdale area from 1975 to 2007 and used it in films such as ''

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

'' and ''

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

''. The

Keswick School of Industrial Art Keswick School of Industrial Art (KSIA) was founded in 1884 by Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley and his wife Edith as an evening class in woodwork and repoussé metalwork at the Crosthwaite Parish Rooms, in Keswick, Cumbria.Bott, p. 117 The enterprise, ...

at Keswick was started in 1884 by Canon Rawnsley, a friend of

. The base of contemporary art commissioner and residency base

Grizedale Arts Grizedale Arts is a contemporary arts residency and commissioning agency sited in Grizedale Forest in the central Lake District in rural Northern England. It conducts cultural projects locally, nationally and internationally from its bases at La ...

since 2007, Lawson Park now hosts artists' residencies, opens to the public on occasion, and has developed a significant garden that includes artworks alongside extensive plantings. Grizedale Arts has produced many internationally significant cultural projects and has proved instrumental in the careers of several

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

-winning artists, making Laure Provoust's winning installation 'Wantee' at Lawson Park, and bringing the exhibition to Coniston's

Ruskin Museum The Ruskin Museum is a small local museum in Coniston, Cumbria, northern England. It was established in 1901 by W. G. Collingwood, an artist and antiquarian who had worked as secretary to art critic John Ruskin. The museum is both a memorial t ...

in 2013. It also supported the refurbishment of the historic Coniston Institute and developed an Honest Shop there (opening in 2012), an unstaffed shop stocking local crafts and produce.

Musicians

The English composer Sir

Arthur Somervell Sir Arthur Somervell (5 June 18632 May 1937) was an English composer and art song writer. After Hubert Parry, he was one of the most successful and influential writers of art song in the English music renaissance of the 1890s–1900s. One of hi ...

(1863 – 1937) was born in Windermere. The 17th track on American singer-songwriter

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

's eighth studio album, ''

Folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

'', released in 2020 as a bonus track available only on physical copies of the album, is titled, " The Lakes", and details Swift's experience living in the Lake District. Swift makes reference to the Lake poet William Wordsworth by name.

Nomenclature

Several words and phrases are local to the Lake District and are part of the

Cumbrian dialect The Cumberland dialect is a local Northern English dialect in decline, spoken in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands, not to be confused with the area's extinct Celtic language, Cumbric. Some parts of Cumbria have a ...

, though many are shared by other northern dialects. These include: *

Fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...

– from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

, brought to England by

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

invaders and close to modern Norwegian and Swedish meaning mountain *Howe – place name from the

''haugr'' meaning hill, knoll, or mound * Tarn – a word that has been taken to mean a small lake situated in a corrie (the local name for which is ''cove'' or ''comb''), a local phrase for any small pool of water. The word is derived from the

, Norwegian and Swedish word ''tjern/tjärn'', meaning small lake. *

Yan tan tethera Yan Tan Tethera or yan-tan-tethera is a sheep-counting system traditionally used by shepherds in Northern England and some other parts of Britain. The words are numbers taken from Brythonic Celtic languages such as Cumbric which had died out in ...

– 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. *Heaf (a variant of

heft The Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike (HEFT), designated as unsigned State Road 821 (SR 821), is the southern extension of Florida's Turnpike, a toll road in the U.S. state of Florida maintained by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (F ...

) – the "home territory" of a flock of sheep

Notes

References

External links

* {{Coord, 54, 30, N, 3, 10, W, region:GB, display=title Lake groups of the United Kingdom World Heritage Sites in England Mountains and hills of England Mountain ranges of England Regions of England

Lake District National Park

Human geography

General

Settlement

Communications

Roads

Railways and ferries

Footpaths and bridleways

Physical geography

Fells (mountains and hills)

Northern Fells

North Western Fells

Western Fells

Central Fells

Eastern Fells

Far Eastern Fells

Southern Fells

Southeastern area

Valleys

Lakes

Woodlands

Coast

Geology

Climate

Wildlife

Economy

Agriculture and forestry

Industry

Development of tourism

Gastronomy

Literature and the arts

Literature

Visual arts

Musicians

Nomenclature

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links