Scale Force is considered the highest

waterfall A waterfall is a 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 severa ...

in the

English 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 ...

. Opinions vary about how its precise height is calculated, but the total height is normally stated as 170 feet (51.8m). It lies on the stream

Scale Beck Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

. The waterfall – or

force In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can also be described intuitively as a ...

(a Norse term for waterfall) – is hidden in a deep gorge on the northern flank of Red Pike. It lies south of

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 ...

and is near the village of

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 ...

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 '' ...

described Scale Force as "a fine chasm, with a lofty, though but slender, fall of water", while

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 Lak ...

wrote, "Scale Force, the white downfall of which glimmered through the trees, that hang before it like the bushy hair over a madman's eyes." In her poetical illustration , to a painting by

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

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 ...

writes "It sweeps, as sweeps an army Adown the mountain side, With the voice of many thunders, Like the battle’s sounding tide".

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite book, last1=Vukanovic, first1=Marija Brala, last2=Krstanovic, first2=Irena Vodopija, title=The Global and Local Dimensions of English: Exploring Issues of Language and Culture, date=2011, publisher=Transaction Publishers, isbn=978-3-643-90073-9 {{cite journal, title=Cascades in England, journal=The Saturday Magazine, url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510028065196;view=1up;seq=268, date=December 1832, issue=32, page=256 {{cite book, editor1-last=Owen, editor1-first=W. J. B., editor2-last=Smyser, editor2-first=Jane Worthington, title=The prose works of William Wordsworth: Volume 2, date=1974, publisher=Clarendon Press, page=164 {{cite book, last1=Berkoben, first1=L. D., title=Coleridge's decline as a poet, url=https://archive.org/details/coleridgesdeclin0000berk, url-access=registration, date=1975, publisher=Mouton & Co., isbn=90-279-3431-2, pag
54
} Tourist attractions in Cumbria Waterfalls of Cumbria Cumberland Loweswater (village)