Watendlath is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

and tarn (a small lake) in 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 the English 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 ...

historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

part of

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

, Watendlath 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 ...

and sits high between the

Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland, England. It is in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, and is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' to distinguis ...

and

Thirlmere Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district in Cumbria and the English Lake District National Park, Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a numbe ...

valleys at above sea level.

Watendlath Tarn

Watendlath Tarn is fed by Bleatarn Gill from Blea Tarn, above, below Bell Crags. Water from Watendlath Tarn flows into the beck of the same name and eventually feeds

Lodore Falls Lodore Falls is a waterfall in Cumbria, England, close to Derwentwater and downstream from Watendlath. The falls are located on the beck that flows from Watendlath Tarn, and tumble more than over a steep cascade into the Borrowdale Valley. It ...

, and ends up in Derwent Water. The tarn is in size, with a maximum depth of . It was given to the National Trust by Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise, in memory of her brother, King Edward VII. Watendlath Tarn is stocked with

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 ...

and

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

and is a popular

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling technique that uses an ultra-lightweight lure called an artificial fly, which typically mimics small invertebrates such as flying and aquatic insects to attract and catch fish. Because the mass of the fly lure is in ...

water, with wading and boat fishing used.

Governance

Watendlath is within the Penrith and Solway UK parliamentary constituency. Watendlath has its own Parish Council; ''Borrowdale Parish Council''.

Farm

The traditional Lakeland

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

in Watendlath is rented out by the

and, as is the case with Lakeland farms owned by the Trust, the herd of Herdwick sheep are owned by the Trust and not the farmer, changing hands with each tenant. This is part of the National Trust's policy aimed at ensuring this rare breed's survival. Fold Head Farm house was used by Sir Hugh Walpole as the fictional home of Judith Paris in his Herries Saga of four novels published in the early 1930s

Watendlath in poetry

Edmund Casson's poem ''The Wise Kings of Borrowdale'' mentions: :Watendlath's quiet nook. :A farm is there, and a slated barn, :And a waterfall, and a pebbly tarn; :And all the way to High Lodore :The banks of the beck are painted o'er :With red herb-willow and red loose-strife.

Packhorse bridge

One of the features of Watendlath is Ashness Bridge, a traditional

packhorse bridge A packhorse bridge is a bridge intended to carry packhorses (horses loaded with sidebags or panniers) across a river or stream. Typically a packhorse bridge consists of one or more narrow (one horse wide) masonry arches, and has low Parapet#Bridg ...

, "perhaps the best-known and most photographed packhorse bridge in the whole of England". In 2015 Watendlath's

was named 4th best bridge in

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 ...

on which to play

Poohsticks Poohsticks is a game first mentioned in ''The House at Pooh Corner'', a Winnie-the-Pooh book by A. A. Milne. It is a simple game which may be played on any bridge over running water; each player drops a stick on the upstream side of a bridge a ...

Access by road

Watendlath is reached by a minor road from the Borrowdale road (B5289). The single track unmarked road winds its way up over Ashness Bridge, which is a traditional stone-built bridge and a very famous landmark. Motorists encountering any traffic coming in the opposite direction on the single track road must use the passing places that are provided. Near the bridge is a cairn to the Lakeland fell-runner Robert Graham, who in 1932 set a Lakeland 24-hour record of 42 tops, which was not equalled for 28 years.

Dora Carrington

One famous painting of Watendlath is by

Dora Carrington Dora de Houghton Carrington (29 March 1893 – 11 March 1932), known generally as Carrington, was an English painter and decorative artist, remembered in part for her association with members of the Bloomsbury Group, especially the writer Lytt ...

and this picture hangs in the Tate Gallery. During the period 1917–1921 Carrington's subjects were mostly intimate portraits and landscapes. The painting depicts Watendlath Farm, where the newly-wed Carrington spent a summer holiday with her husband and their friends in 1921. Among the guests was her husband's friend, Gerald Brenan, with whom she developed a mutual attraction. The identity of the two figures in white is not known.

Etymology

The name came 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 ...

''vatn-endi-hlaða'' = "water-end-

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G ...

References

External links

*http://www.visitcumbria.com/kes/watend.htm *Dora Carrington
Farm at Watendlath
Tate Gallery {{portalbar, Cumbria Hamlets in Cumbria Cumberland (unitary authority) LWatendlath