Moss Eccles Tarn is a tarn on

Claife Heights Claife Heights is an upland area in the Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains ( ...

, near Near Sawrey in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

, Cumbria. It is currently owned by the National Trust and known as an attractive tarn for fishing and walking. It is known for its association with Beatrix Potter – she owned the tarn and donated it to the National Trust after her death, and it served as inspiration for some of her stories.

Description

The tarn is on

. Alfred Wainwright calls it the "most attractive" tarn on Claife Heights; it is stocked with water lilies and fish, and surrounded by

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

s. The outflow is bridged by a small dam. The tarn is best reached by following a track from Near Sawrey, a small village between Hawkshead and Windermere.

History

Wainwright contends the "tarn" to be a reservoir, noting that none of the tarns on Claife Heights appear on 19th-century maps. He notes, however, that they are "not obtrusively artificial". After Beatrix Potter and her husband William Heelis married in 1913, they lived in Castle Cottage in

Far Sawrey Near Sawrey and Far Sawrey are two neighbouring villages in the Furness area of Cumbria, England. They are located in the Lake District between the village of Hawkshead and the lake of Windermere. The two lie on the B5285, which runs from H ...

and rowed on the tarn in summer evenings. Potter sketched near the tarn and her husband fished in it. In 1926, Potter bought part of the tarn, planting the water lilies and stocking it with fish. Along with much other land, it was left to the National Trust by Potter upon her death in 1943. It was probably a combination of Moss Eccles Tarn and Esthwaite Water that served as inspiration for the home of Jeremy Fisher in ''

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

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

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

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

Fishing

The tarn is stocked with

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

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

References

{{authority control Reservoirs in Cumbria Beatrix Potter National Trust properties in the Lake District South Lakeland District