Boot is a small village in Eskdale on the western side of the

English Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mountains, and for its literary associati ...

. It lies within the civil parish of Eskdale, the unitary authority of Cumberland, and the ceremonial county of Cumbria. The main part of the village lies beside the

Whillan Beck The Whillan Beck is a river in the west of the Lake District National Park in the English county of Cumbria. Administratively, the whole of the course of the beck lies in the civil parish of Eskdale and the unitary authority of Cumberland. T ...

, whilst its church, St Catherine's, lies to the south on the bank of the River Esk. The Whillan Beck flows into the Esk just downstream of the village. The village can be approached by two roads, one up the valley from the coast, and the other over the Hardknott and Wrynose passes from the central Lake District. The latter is England's steepest road and is often closed in winter or during icy weather. The

Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a minimum-gauge railway, minimum-gauge heritage railway in Cumbria, England. The line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth for Boot railway station, Dalegarth Station near Boot, Cumbria, Boot in the valley o ...

, a seasonally operated narrow-gauge steam railway, has its upper terminus at Dalegarth station, some 5 minutes walk from the village. On the moorland around north of the village are five

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

stone circles A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being bu ...

known collectively as the

Burnmoor stone circles The Burnmoor Stone Circles are a group of five different approximately 4000-year-old stone circles in Cumbria. They are around 1 mile north of the village of Boot, on the slopes of Boat How. The site which covers roughly a square mile is looked ...

and dating from around 2000 BCE. The remains of the

Hardknott Roman Fort Hardknott Roman Fort is an archeological site, the remains of the Roman fort ''Mediobogdum'', located on the western side of the challenging Hardknott Pass in the English Lake District. The fort was built between 120 and 138 on a rocky spur, ...

are to the east; the fort was occupied for most of the period from the early 2nd to the late 4th centuries. In the village there is a water mill dating back to 1547 known as Eskdale Corn Mill. Since 1970's this has been open to the public as a visitor attraction and showcases original working milling machinery driven by two overshot waterwheels. The mill underwent a £1 million refurbishment in 2019 with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Copeland Community Fund. During the 19th century there was some mining of

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

at a number of sites around Boot, including at Nab Gill above the village, Ban Garth just to the west and Gill Force on the other side of the Esk. It was these mines that led to the initial construction of the railway, which at that time terminated in the village and was linked to the mines by branches or inclines, but yields proved to be disappointing and all the mines had closed by 1912. Besides the surviving railway, some traces of the mines and connecting railways can be found. The permanent population of Boot is 10–15, but can rise to between 90 and 120 in summer when the local pubs,

bed-and-breakfast A bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. In addition, a B&B sometimes has the hosts living in the house. ''Bed and breakfast'' is also used to ...

s and holiday cottages are full. The village has two pubs, ''The Boot Inn'' (formerly ''The Burnmoor Inn'') and ''The Brook House Inn'', with ''The Woolpack Inn - Hardknott Bar & Cafe'' a short walk nearer to Hardknott Pass. The Woolpack Inn has an adjoined brewery known as Hardknott Brewery. All these businesses survive on fell walkers ( ramblers), the passengers of the railway, and holiday-makers from the nearby campsite and cottages. On 2 June 2010, Boot became the centre of a search after a shooting spree in

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 killer, 52-year-old taxi driver Derrick Bird, was found dead in woods near Boot after a four-hour manhunt. He killed 12 people and injured 11 others.

References

Villages in Cumbria Eskdale, Cumbria {{Cumbria-geo-stub

See also

References