The Rothay is a spate river of the

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

in north-west

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Its name comes 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 ...

and translates literally as ''the red one''. This has come to mean ''trout river''. It rises close to Rough Crag above

Dunmail Raise Dunmail Raise is the name of a large cairn in the English Lake District, which may have been an old boundary marker. It has given its name to the mountain pass of Dunmail Raise, on which it stands. This mountain pass forms part of the only low-lev ...

at a point about 1542 feet (470 m) above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

(). Its catchment area covers

Grasmere Common Grasmere may refer to: Australia *Grasmere, New South Wales * Grasmere, Western Australia, a suburb of Albany Canada *Grasmere, British Columbia * Grasmere, Ontario New Zealand * Grasmere, New Zealand, in Invercargill * Lake Grassmere U ...

including Easedale Tarn, the southern flanks of Fairfield, and several of the fells to the east of Dunmail Raise, including

Great Rigg Great Rigg is a fell in the English Lake District, north-west of Ambleside and reaching a height of . It is most often climbed as part of the Fairfield horseshoe, a 16-km circular walk which starts and finishes in Ambleside. The fell's name orig ...

, Rydal Fell, Scandale Fell and

Heron Pike Heron Pike is a fell in the English Lake District, two kilometres east of Grasmere. It is part of the Fairfield group in the Eastern Fells. It should not be confused with the Heron Pike that forms part of Sheffield Pike, although it appear ...

. From its source the Rothay descends through the valley of Greenburn Bottom to the hamlet of Helmside not far from the main

A591 road The A591 is a major road in Cumbria, 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 as the most popular road in B ...

over Dunmail Raise. Just north of the village of Grasmere the river subsumes Easedale Gill and Sour Milk Gill, the latter flowing out of Easedale Tarn. In the village the river flows close to the churchyard where the poet

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 ...

is buried. The Rothay then flows into the head of the lake of Grasmere (elevation 208 feet/63 m). As well as replenishing Grasmere, the Rothay also drains it, flowing for just half a mile (800 m) from the southern end of the lake before replenishing

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, ...

(elevation 181 feet/55 m) at its western extremity. The Rothay drains Rydal from its easternmost point and then flows in a general southerly direction for about three miles (4.8 km) before merging with the

River Brathay The Brathay is a river of north-west England. Its name comes from Old Norse and means ''broad river''. It rises at a point 1289 feet (393 m) above sea level near the Three Shire Stone at the highest point of Wrynose Pass () in the Lake Distr ...

at Croft Lodge south-west of

Ambleside Ambleside is a town in the civil parish of Lakes and the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the ...

. From there the rivers flow into the northern end of

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

. In addition to those tributaries already noted, several others are subsumed by the Rothay. About a mile (1.6 km) north of Ambleside the Rothay is crossed by a well-known set of stepping stones. Several sections of the Rothay are popular with

canoeists A canoe is a lightweight, narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term ''canoe'' ca ...

, including the section between Grasmere and Rydal; the river is graded as 2+. The Rothay is a trout fishery where

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

can be caught. Anglers should enquire locally about licences (an Environment Agency Rod Licence is required). The River Rothay is wholly within the historic county of

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

. After local government reorganisation in 1974 the river was in the administrative 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 ...

. Following further local government reorganisation in 2023 the river flows within the council area administered by

Westmorland and Furness Council Westmorland and Furness Council is the Local government in England, local authority for Westmorland and Furness, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, b ...

References

{{authority control Rivers of Cumbria 1Rothay

See also

References