Aira Force is a

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

in the English

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

, in the civil parish of Matterdale and the county of

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

. The site of the waterfall is owned by the

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

Description

The stream flowing over the waterfall is Aira Beck, which rises on the upper slopes of Stybarrow Dodd at a height of and flows north-easterly before turning south, blocked by the high heather-covered slopes of Gowbarrow Fell. It turns south on its eight-kilometre journey to join

Ullswater Ullswater is a glacial lake in Cumbria, England and part of the Lake District National Park. It is the second largest lake in the region by both area and volume, after Windermere. The lake is about long, wide, and has a maximum depth of . I ...

, at a height of . One kilometre before entering the lake, the beck makes the leap down a rocky and steep sided ravine at the falls known as Aira Force. The water falls approximately to a rocky pool, from where the beck continues through a shallow valley to the lake. The river name Aira is derived from

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''eyrr'', a gravel bank, and Old Norse ''á'', a river, hence "the river at the gravel bank", a reference to Aira Point, a gravelly spit where the river enters Ullswater. The Old Norse word ''fors'', waterfall, has been adopted into several northern English dialects and is widely used for waterfalls, with the English spelling 'Force'. Thus, "the waterfall on gravel-bank river".

Tourism

Aira Force lies on land owned by the

. The Trust purchased the 750-acre Gowbarrow Park (on which the force lies) in 1906 and has provided facilities, such as car parking, disabled access, graded paths, and viewing platforms to make Aira Force one of the most famous and most visited waterfalls in the Lake District. Details National Trust purchase. The National Trust has also provided public lavatories, a café, and a visitor centre. The site is open to visitors throughout the year. A public footpath from the village of Dockray passes the waterfall. Beside the walk that passes up the glen is located a good example of a

Wish Tree A wish tree (or wishing tree) is a tree, usually distinguished by species, location or appearance, which is used as an object of wishes and offerings. Such trees are identified as possessing a special religious or spiritual value. Postulants ma ...

, in this case using a large fallen tree trunk. Visitors hammer coins into it using stones from the site. In 2015, Ullswater 'Steamers' opened a jetty on the lake shore near Aira Force, making the waterfall accessible by foot passenger ferry from

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. Et ...

. A footpath runs from Aira Force as far as Glencoyne Bay, but only a track exists from this point on.

Bridges

A small arched bridge spans the stream just as the beck goes over the falls giving views from the top. There is also a second bridge at the foot of the falls. Both bridges were constructed in honour of members of the

Spring family The Spring family is a Suffolk Landed gentry, gentry family that has been involved in the politics and economy of East Anglia since the 15th century, as well as holding large estates in Ireland from the 16th century.Joseph Jackson Howard, ‘Spri ...

early in the 20th century. Cecil Spring Rice was the British ambassador to the USA during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, while Stephen Spring Rice was a senior civil servant. Lt Gerald Spring Rice of the 11th Battalion, Border Regiment was killed in 1916 during the First World War and buried in France. The bridges are of particular interest: the lower is made of vertical stones, not traditional in this area of Cumbria, while the higher has horizontal stones, more in keeping with the dale customs. Gives details of bridges. In 2021, the lower bridge was rendered inaccessible after a tree fall during heavy storms. Access was restored by installing steel platforms.

Poetry

The Lake Poet

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

paid many visits to the area around Aira Force; he was probably inspired to write his poem "Daffodils", with the opening line "I wandered lonely as a cloud", as he and

Dorothy Wordsworth Dorothy Wordsworth (25 December 1771 – 25 January 1855) was an English author, poet, and diarist. She was the sister of the Romanticism, Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and the two were close all their adult lives. Dorothy Wordsworth had ...

observed

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

s growing on the shore of Ullswater near where Aira Beck enters the lake near Glencoyne Bay. Details that Wordsworth was probably inspired to write daffodils at Glencoyne Bay. The falls themselves are mentioned in three Wordsworth poems, the most famous reference being in "The Somnambulist", where in the final verse he writes:

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. Landon's writings are emblematic of the transition from Romanticism to Victorian literature. Her first major b ...

's poetical illustration in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834, Airey Force, to an engraving of a painting by

Thomas Allom Thomas Allom (13 March 1804 – 21 October 1872) was an English architect, artist, and topographical view, topographical illustrator. He was a founding member of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He designed many bui ...

, refers to a legend that a hermit once lived beneath the falls.

References

External links