Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

by the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY

VOL UME S I N THI S S E R I E S

M W M TT H and . CAMB R ID G E B y . A ISON

T R E . A R . U R O! F O R D B y JO HN F UL L E YL OVE and D D T H M E WAR O AS. S COT L AND B y S UT T ON PALME R and

A R H E M C E FF . . OP ON RI S U R R E Y By S UTT ON PALME R an d M C E A R H E FF. . . OP ON RI

B F E D WH T E H E D and WAR WIC K S HIR E . y R I A E H D C LIV OLLAN . WIL D L AK E L AND B y A H E AT ON C OOP E R and M C K E Z E M C DE A N I A BRI .

oll Ot lzer Volume: 10 f ow.

AGE N T S

AM E RICA T HE MAC MILLA N COM PA NY 6 66 F H V E N UE N E W Y K 4 FI T A , OR AUSTRA LASIA T HE O! F OR D U N I VE RSITY PRE SS 20 F L I N D E Rs A N E ME B U N E 5 L , L O R

CA NA DA T HE MAC A N C PA N Y O P CAN ADA D . MILL OM , LT ’ S T . MA N S H US E 0 N D E E T N RTI O , 7 BO STR T, ORO TO

M P Y N D A AC A N C A N D. I I MILL OM , LT MA C MI I L A N U D NG B AY B IL I , BOM 0 B o w AZAA E E CA C U A 3 9 B R STR T, L TT N D AN AN K U D NG S MA D RAs I I B B IL I ,

GAR B U R N PASS . WI LD LA K E L AN D PA I N T E D BY A H E ATON CO O PE R DESCRIB ED BY MAC KENZIE MAC BRIDE

A&C BLACK 15 S HO S UARE LONDO WL O Q , N

C ON TE N T S

L AK E LAN D UN D E R WAT E R ON T HE HIG H HILLS CO NSI D E R T HE CLO UDS B E A UT Y OF L AK E LAN D PE AKS AN D HEADLANDS WI N T E R I N L AK E LAN D T HE ST ON Y KI R KS T ON E PASS

N D N T HE V E M N SI BA I ALL Y OF D IA O DS . SPOR T AN D WILD NAT U R E T HE SAC RIFI CE T o T RO UT SCAN DALE F R OM No o x E ND GLE N SCA N DALE AN D I T S VI E WS OF F T HE B E AT E N T RAC K

’ R Y D AL S F E LLS AN D CORN FI E LDS

! THE OL D ST AT E SME N OL D W E ST MORLAN D HOUSE S

H S HE A T AWR D : AN OL D CO UNTY OWN . E ST HWAI T E WAT E R G RASME R E OF T HE GARD E NS

E ASDAL E TAR N

G R I sED AL E E N D OL Y WAG GON PI K E , FAIRFI LD A D L

21 L E T HE G DE N C N . AK OF OL ROW WIL D L AKE L AND P AG E

D U C N K N CUM E N D N A , I G OF B RLA T HE L ASCE LLE S FAMILY

L E NC AT HAR A TWHR L ME R E AN D B.

K ESWIC K T OWN

K E SWIC K AN D T HE D E RW E NT WAT E RS

AN OL D -T IME C H UR C H B IR D L IFE I N L AK E LAN D S OME T H IN G ABOUT T HE SWAN THE FAIRY PRI NCE SS B LE A TARN AND I T S L IT E RARY ME MORI E S

’ L AK E LAN D S WILD ANIMALS HUN T IN G O N L AK E LAN D HILLS T HE F E LL HO UN D AN D H IS RIVALS S H E E P -D OG T RIALS T HE HO UN D T RAIL

’ L AK E LAN D S HAU NT I N G ME MORI E S AMBLE SI D E T O UL s AT E R ULLSWAT E R AN D HE LV E LLYN T HE KINGS OF PAT T E R DALE RAV E NGLASS AN D B LAC K COMB E G AR B UR N PASS FROM T R OU T B E C K T ROU T B E C K ME MORI E S T HE L OST S IGN OF ! T HE MORT AL MAN T ROUT B E C K AN D JE N KI N CRAG PI CT UR ES Q U E L AKE LAN D IND UST RI E S PICT U R E SQ U E LAK E LAN D IN DUST RI E S

’ S CAWF E L L S M T C C C E YS I IR L . E NN E R DALE WAT E R T HE S CAWF E L L RAN GE

INDE ! L I S T OF I L L U S T R AT I ON S

B A HE AT ON COOPE R Y .

' I Garb ur P F r nt c . o 1; ze e n ass . sp

F ACI NG PAGE ” ! ’ 2 Th e H are a re fu e t h wild . High ills g for e goats - Coniston E nn e rdale L ak e

N an B e P e T M le i ld ass and Small Wat r arn, arda Sprinkling Tarn and Gre at G able Th e S cawfe lls from Hardkn o t t Pass

Me lt in L e g snow, angdal Shap Abbe y and F e lls Angl e Tarn ; E sk Hause Stak e Pass and B o wfe ll — Mountain Glory Rydal F e lls

F e L e L e A armst ad, ittl angdal Hawkshe ad

k e T L e Stic l arn, angdal

e -s e F ar E asdale G St pping ton s, , rasm e re G rise dale Tarn (Ullswate r in t h e distanc e ) St yh e ad G ill (B o rrowdal e to Wast wat e r) A load b e fore t h e storm- Coniston St yh e ad Pas s (to Wast wat e r) Th e B orrowdal e Y e ws viii WIL D LAKE L AND FACI NG Ble a Tarn and L angdale Pike s

! ” Th e b e Th e o ar B e T a od of S lit y, l a arn

Wlld M P e An le T P e e ountain oni s, g arn, att rdal

L o w e T C Wat r arn, oniston Ullswate r : Mountain gloom

S t rid m E e e e g dg , H lv llyn

e e B e T r A Sudd n Show r, l a a n L in gmoo r T arn and L angdale Pike s L ittle Langdale Tarn Charcoal -n

B B e D V e irks ridg , uddon all y B lack SaI l Pass WI L D L A K E L A N D

CHAPTER I

L AK E L AND UNDE R WAT E R

A highway whi te with dust that winds amid e e e z n An undulating str tch of br y dow , Whose rugge dne ss by spre adin g fe rns is hid T e n m e il s from any town .

Around t h e sandy hollows on t h e he ath Th e e e e blackb rry vin s in prickly clust rs run , e e e e e e o o ls e e And hang , a p nd nt h dg , Wh r p b n ath h L ie winking in t e sun .

Th e -o ff are e hi e e e far hills dott d w t with sh p , ’ And by t h e li ttle foot path s ramblin g cours e A tiny b e ck that murmurs in its sle e p T e e e t h e e rickl s b n ath gors .

’ Tis e e n t h e e e v ing now , and in crystal m r — ’ Floats t h e re fle cte d moon a lotus flow r And from some distant spire ring low and cle ar h e t h e T e b e lls that chim hour . 2 WIL D L AKE L AND

’ flo we r s No w like a c e ns e r e ve ry cup , e e Swung to and fro e xhale s a d wy sc nt, As all t h e voice s of t h e night go up e In murmurs of cont nt .

e e And e ve ry voic e is full of strang app al , And e ve ry wind of mystic whisp e rings e e e e e e From lips uns n , as s king to r v al ,

Th e s e cre t soul of thin gs .

e ce e For night has mad a tru to doubts and f ars , And cast h e r magic sp e lls upon t h e mind Which s e e s a thought in e ve ry star and he ars h e It utte re d by t wind .

DAV ID Go w.

I T is no use denying that the English L ake

o District has the highest ramfall in ur island .

o f It is more watery than any district the Clyde .

With it even Greenock cannot compete . But what then ? The rainfall o f L akeland is one o f its greatest assets . To me when the skies are clear and n o mists float over the noble hills that stretch across from Helvellyn and F airfield to the S cawfe ll group , they have lost their greatest charm . They do not attract so much . Why is this Because it is the mist and atmospheric effects which follow each other in never-ending succes sion , that give to British scenery the mystery L AKE L AND UNDE R WAT E R 3 and glamour which are the most subtle attractions o f in art o r literature . Their appeal is deepest all to us humans who are born and live and di e in mystery . When the sky is cle ar the outlines o f the ll same great hi s come nearer to me , as it were ; everything is decipherable . The whole secret is

e ffo rt k o f proclaimed and , no being as ed me , I go home unstimulated in heart and in spirit . My very body does not benefit so much when every thing is laid before me and nothing is left fo r my imagination .

o f o ur The most subtle all sensations , the most

o f o ur lovely all poems , the most captivating o f all o ur pictures are those which bring us up against the great shadow— the unknown perhaps the unknowable , who can say

No traveller returns to tell the secret . l t The song , the iterature , the art that sugges s these things is the greatest art and the greatest literature . The scenery that gives us thi s great sense o f o f mystery , the gigantic , the unseen , the unknown , is nowhere if it is not here when L akeland is under water . Then the rain fills burn and beck with glittering splendour and there

CHAPTER II

ON T HE HIG H HIL L S

THE N on the high hills clamber up the wet tracks and visit the lovely loch o r tarn that

lies sheltered in the deep passes and corries ,

o n f nl f the sides o the mountains . O y a pu f o f warm wind is needed and they send up their vapour in billowy clouds that catch every shaft

o f light , every rosy shade the afternoon sun can

— - - lend them yellow , orange red , rose pink and

- madder brown . Beneath us , lying low along the — fells the mist takes a hundred tones o f blue the f smoke blue so ba fling to the painter .

Then again , ye grumblers at the rain , consider that a hill in a clear atmosphere has only o n e

outline from each side .

But when it is misty , cloudy ; when there is

S cawfe ll F airfie ld rain about , Helvellyn , , have a

dr hun ed outlines , ever altering ; ever new ; no all two alike through the long day . 5 6 WIL D L AKE L AND At such a time they claim their kinship with the clouds , and together move and alter into a thousand majestic and mysterious shapes .

T e e e re t h e h ir st p is forth and , day B e e e e r aks up th ir l agu r and away , — Flowe rs the y stre w I catch t h e sc e nt Or tone of silve r instrume nt L e ave s on t h e wind me lodious trac e 1 Y e t I could ne ve r se e the ir fac e .

Just to take o n e example o f the wonder and the compelling loveliness that rain imparts to scenery . Have you ever seen the great hills o f the — ’ Pennine Chain Cross Fell , Pen y Gant , Ingle boro and the others ? They have each a definite form unaltered for this thousand years they are

k - blea , wind swept , low in colour compared with the richness Of the Windermere and Keswick hil l ls . Their soi is very thin and there is some a i i times l ttle growth of short heather wh ch , in the autumn , is black and sombre . If you choose a wet day and take a walk along

Sl - the wet , oping pack horse road that leads from Orre st Head or from the Troutbeck-Windermere

Kirkst o ne o u l road to the road y wil , if you are

1 E merson. ON T HE HI GH HILL S 7

lucky , get an excellent example upon the nearer o f the Pennines o f the magical things the rain L can do in akeland . The road lies above the Troutbeck Valley to whi ch I refer in another chapter . At the right - hand turn we are in G arb urn

l lk o f Pass , ittle known though within easy wa

Kendal , Staveley and Windermere , perhaps because the Pennines are bleak and bare and their bareness is too visible under a clear blue sky . In the rain and wind when all nature is astir walk down the ll l k short Pass and you wi look before you , i e — Columbus , with a wild surmise for there

o u ill di i y w see mly in the m st , over the great

i o f chasm in wh ch lies Kentmere , a giant the Olympians or the Arabian Nights o r o f your o wn far finer , cleaner , Ossianic legends ; a giant

o f l vague out ine , shrouded by mist and whole battalions o f clouds his front partly visible here l l l and there , tipped with pa e ye low ight . Deep

ll o ff va eys lie at his feet and sides , shutting him from weak humanity typified in the fragments o f ll k Kentmere vi age far below in its dar Pass ,

once occupied by a lake . The giant we see is ’ o f Wh e rn side I n le b o ro the , Pen y Gant and g

group . 8 WIL D L AKE L AND It is a great and rememberable sight and the — feast of colour the short red bracken , faded

C heather , yellow mosses and faded hamois velvet

G arb urn grass , as you turn back to look at Pass

l ill o u . itse f, w also remain with y I was told afterwards that we should have made

o ur - Staveley starting point , but I ask no more

G arb urn than what I saw from Pass .

CHAPTER III

C ONSIDE R T HE CL OUD S

THE R E are not many places from which yo u can see five o r six mountain ranges by simply

turning your head from east to west . Yet that is what I can do as I write , and I have chosen

nl the spot above the Gale at Ambleside , o y three ’ l l minutes wa k from where I ive , because from it I can see five or six di fferent cloud effects over as f many mountain ranges , and it is the cloud ef ects i we in th s prosaic country neglect . Yet they

are our peculiar possession . T o the west is the hill called the S e rge ant man ’ which overlooks G rasme re s flowery valley and L l ’ joins hands with angda e s Pikes . Round his long shoulder dark bluish-black clouds are moving ; L and , seen over the green top of oughrigg below ,

hi di li o f are a black ll and a stant ne grey mountain . Just above them there hangs a little streak o f 9 2 10 WIL D L AKE L AND light grey cloud its whiteness making the moun tain - tops clear at that part and giving them a

o f . fine touch mystery To the south , over

B rat h a li i Waterhead and y , bril ant wh te clouds lit hover , by the sinking sun into unpaintable

brightness . To the north is the grand range which includes L Nab Scar , ord Crag , Heron Pike , Great Rigg

l o ut and F airfie d . It is this range whose noble lines make Ambleside so unique and lovely . Over these first four two perpendicular lin es o f ll dark clouds are slowly hovering , while a bri iant touch of light rests upon the westernmost shoulder o f Nab Scar . Over F airfie ld the lines o f cloud are densely i di blue , long and ridged , giving the great h ll stance and solemnity . Under it and Great Rigg , in the valley , is a blue shadow soft as haze , while over

’ F airfi e ld s right shoulder an irregular patch of green Sky is broken suddenly by the beautiful

o f outlines , now clearly visible in detail , High

L o w li e and Pike , which to the west and slope nobly , in a running line , towards the Rydal

Valley . On their Scandale side the two peaks form a curve which resembles in form the great precipice of Striding Edge .

CONSIDE R T HE CL OUDS 1 ]

All these mountain ranges are dim to -night ; touched with mystery changing momently . In

t o front of me , a little the east , is the great broad base of S narke r Moss with S n arke r Pike above .

o f ill ull nli The top the h , in f su ght , forms a great green and cultivated contrast to the wild rough mountain character o f all the rest o f the land scape from west to east . — Above it is another skyscape a big patch o f blue , and resting yet moving imperceptibly ll over the Pike , the drifting , shifting , bi owy f clouds . At the foot o the great hill is the valley o f the river Stock the murmur o f which is very i del ghtful. One other hill range lies to the right o f where

K irkst o n e the Pass is marked by trees , pale yellow l ’ green larch and dark firs . Over Stock Gil s

o r u grand Force waterfall , and f rther east , is a

blue sky with a few sentinel clouds here , grey and i wh te , there touched by the lessening sunlight . On the extreme right (east) rising in a rugged li flowing ne to his topmost crag , and somewhat f ll Wan s e . barren in appearance , is In five minutes

the whole cloudscape has moved , but in the

S e r e an t m an western part lying over beyond the g ,

o f hi o f where in the heart the great lls , the peaks 12 WIL D L AKE L AND

S cawfe ll dr l attract and aw the clouds , we stil see

u o f the grandest forms , f ll the fine reflected lights

silver and blue and grey . And now a cloud o funcommon shape has driven in o n the extreme west ; it has square outlines like the form of a great castle or black pile of l masonry . It g ides into the shape of three close huge peaks ; and to the north in the dis

K irk st o n e tance , over way , we can now see the form o f Can dle Moor whi ch alone has caught o n

- o f its sides the rose yellow hues the setting sun . CHAPTER IV

B E AUT Y OF L AK E L AND PE AK S AN D HE ADL ANDS

THE R E are o n e or two beauties o f the L akeland hills which are apt to be overlooked because they are merely seen casually and are not realised and

considered . We may admire a thing but it carries us mentally a step further if we know why

we instinctively admire it . Amongst the beauties o f L akeland I put

li o f second to none the forms , the out nes its

Many mountain ranges are so worn down by time and tempest that all their forms are blunt l and flattened . They have no peaks , no sp intered

- l l . crags , no beautifu cone ike tops The downs o f o f the south England , the Pennine mountains including the Spur that runs from them westward L i into Yorkshire and ancash re , are notable rather fo r their mass and bulk than fo r their graceful 13

L AKE L AND PE AKS AND HE ADL ANDS 15

The country at the foot o f thi s great assembly

- of bare , often snow covered peaks is rich with splendid woodlands and fat green fields and gardens .

T HE S PL INT E R E D PE AK S OF S CAWF E L L

What a contrast is the frugal setting of the

’ great central range o f L akeland to Amble side s rich meadows , its kingcups , buttercups , coverlets

- of hyacinth bells , wall tops overlapped with yellow

’ st o n e crOp ! Ho w di fferent is it from Rydal s broom -sheltered burns ; Copper and red beeches

- - seen against pale green larches gold green oaks ,

’ d blue -green ash trees ; from G rasme re s wealth o f ul l c tivated flowers , its va leys below the great ll ll dl fells , fi ed brim fu with woo ands Very different from the rounded hill-tops about the Ambleside region also are the outlines o f the shattered peaks o f this great ce n t ral group l set in their treeless , bird shunned wi derness o f crags and precipices . Yet the forms we find ll there are o fmarve ous beauty . I will just remind f the reader of a few o them . To their value from

o f ff the climbing point view I am quite indi erent . Of the wonderful beauty o f their forms ; their 16 WIL D L AKE L AND

majesty and grace , their unutterable silence and peace I am an ardent worshi pper .

S CAWF E L L PINNACL E

o f S cawfe ll One of the noblest them is Pinnacle , with the deep S hadows o f Steep Gill chasm and those o f its lower peaks casting its jagged lances into grand relief. How superbly it throws its head back , its whole surface full of lovely shadows and half tones both upright and across , bringing out the ragged , terrible crags below .

B OWF E L L AND I T S BUTT R E SS

I have looked o n B o wfell daily for a whole year and have seen him from many sides with his noble partners , and I can confirm the statement some o n e has made that he is grand from any f point o view . But to me finest is the di stant view where the vast bulk of the mass to whi ch he belongs is contrasted against those mystical

o f n battlements his great neighbour Cri kle Crags , with their suggestion that the high gods dwell

F o r behind them . a nearer view, for wonderful grace , strength and the repose and restfulness

L AKE L AND PE AKS AND HE ADL ANDS 17

r in that belong to st ength , next loveliness is the

B o wfe ll sight of Buttress from below .

T HE PIL L AR RO CK

’ The Pillar Rock is another o f the climber s

o f l o ff favourites , and the view it a ittle way

- n is very grand , especially the castle like pin acles l on its eastern side and the beautifu , vertical

’ lines o fthe clifi s on the west o r High Man side . On the summit there is a piece o fslate o n whi ch climbers used t o write their names and there was

for a long time a tin box also , in which they later

put their cards . The L o w Man from which the High Man

' springs is a grand clifl and the north side and the

- crags seen from the north east are stately , varied , l f and fu l o interesting detail.

T HE S CAWF E L L GR OUP

Very imposing is the view o f the S cawfell group from Wast dale Head and Great Gable ;

their precipitous sides , their vast bulk , their deep

black gullies and their grand cliffs . Only the red mosses and the red colour o f the 3

CHAPTER V

WINT E R I N L AK E L AND

We t h e t h e e e ird sound owl ts mak , B e e e e e lack n d branch s cr ak and br ak , Y e t t h e n e w grass we have cross e d e e t h e r Shows up gr nly through f ost , t h e e t e n e e And brack ns , f t high , Make a glorious canopy h e e For t e tr e s on which th e y di . ’ Strange wh e n Winte r s hands li e spre ad ’ L e e e t h e e if l ss n ath cov rlid , That Natur e brings us such a dowe r ’ He re s t h e holly tre e in flowe r Ne e e e e e v r was th r Iov li r sight , Tipp e d e ach le af with constant light And re d b e rri e s half conc e ale d L e e e e e e e ik som s cr t stand r v al d , As t h e writing on t h e wall ’ OfB e lshaz z ar s fate d hall B ut with the m the re com e s no dre ad F air hop e s writte n the re inste ad I T e N e n ok n that though atur frow s , Sh e —flo we rs t h e n plants wild on dow s , B t h e - e e e ids snow drop sw t to ris , e e n e e S nds cl ar stars to wi t r ski s , 19 20 WIL D L AKE L AND

B righte st colour to t h e fe rns ’ Pure st showe rs to Winte r s burns nn e e e Su i st brown to Autumn sh av s , R e dde st hue s to falling leave s W e e t h e hit st mantl to snow, Cle ane st winds that e ve r blow

Such as summ e rs ne ve r know .

L o sh e le nds us sole mn hint In giving de ath t h e noble tint Oft h e h e r e blood that fills v ins ,

Th e crimson ros e h e r he art contains .

MACKE NZI E MACB R IDE .

T HE coloured things among the dark branches o f — o f the woods the berries the holly , the hawthorn and the guelder rose , are not all that L is left to us in a akeland winter . The grey mists often hang heavily , the rain is plentiful and all nature seems sodden and depressed yet a couple o f hun dred feet above o ur gossiping little

n town things take o another aspect . A village without folk in its streets is at times l 200 a ittle depressing , but feet up above the town

mi l . and the st , there is plenty of ife The birds l are very busy , the star ing and the robin are friendly and the finches though less bold , are u gratef l for human society every where . The starling carries on hi s music -hall kind o f ventri lo quial entertainment every morning and all the WINTE R IN L AKE L AND 21 i day . The daws too are amus ng and pour a constant shower o f sticks a foot in length down

dr n my be oom chim ey . The robin comes to one ’s very feet for crumbs looking as dapper as

- o f o r a sergeant major the Seaforths , the Argyll and Sutherlands .

And there , away from the towns and the mist we find winter in its coloured clothing more gorgeous than the Q ueen of Sheba herself. A cloak o f the rose -pin k bracken to which I have

o f l referred , covers great part the hil s , and

C - hamois yellow grass , smooth as velvet , brightened

- and relieved by emerald green patches , covers the

o n other half, while , far up , towards the bare

o f crags , are black patches faded heather giving strength and shade and contrast to the whole . Around there is a great silence made more impressive by the roar o f Stock Gill Force that

S o f i l leaps from the level ide the h l , over the precipice to the great lake below . If we follow the stream we find it has also a wealth o f colour

o f : and light and shade here it is pale yellow , there deep amber like a cairngorm stone ; n o w pale emerald , and , where the sun catches it , l k il glittering with brightness i e a s ver casket . Its sounds are as varied yonder it runs seething 22 WI L D L AKE L AND over pebbles and great stones there in the deep

l . pools , it has a rich contra to note Al ong the magnificent Windermere , Ambleside , Grasmere road we can always get a very feast of — colour the bracken o n a hundred hills ; the brown -red leaves o n those S plendi d beech hedges that fringe the road ; the ru st -red wrack of the longer bracken and saplings in the woods . All

o f i these things , and the wealth fol age on the

ll o n ff R o t h a B rat h a hi s , the cli s of the y and y valleys and o n the Furness Fells Opposite are far

o f more full colour in September , November , December and February when the sedge has i l ’ ” w thered by the ake and the harvest s done , than in May , June and July because the sedge and all o r most other green things are in death nobler o f hue than in their prime . CHAPTER VI

T HE ST ONY K I R K ST ON E PASS

T HE Kirkst o n e is easily the most famous pass amongst the English mountains and always

no t o f attracts strangers . This is because its

beauty , when compared with other roads in the

nn same neighbourhood . Its scenery ca ot be named with that o f the Grasmere o r Skelwith Bridge and Coniston roads o r the splendid road

o r over Red Bank , the Windermere Road . The Kirkst o n e Pass suggests rather the bleak Pennines or the Yorkshire moors . Nor is the side o f the valley through which

o f the road runs the better side . The views the distant hills to the west seen from the S t o ckgill

o n e Grove Farm road the Opposite , eastern , sid di are amongst the finest in the strict . The K irkst o n e is really to be regarded more as a

o f all curiosity , and as the Pass which has seen 23 24 WI L D L AKE L AND — passes , the most battles between Scots and

English . The most di fficult part to climb is that up North road Ambleside , to Seathwaite and Round Hill Farm , soon after leaving Amble

ll o f side and the vi age Edinburgh . From here we can see the valley o f the Stock and the old farm -houses o f L o w and Middle Grove o n the

f o f fe ll o S Wan s . other side the bare , bleak lopes Higher up we get a raised valley o f great

hi o f111 width over w ch is a fine view Bell . There is not much colour in the scene— bleakness and barrenness everywhere around . At Sunny Side cottages there is a gate to the o ld pack-horse road whi ch leads to Round Hill Farm and across the bottom o f the valley to Middle

o f ll Grove . There is not much else interest ti ’ o n e reaches The Traveller s Rest irm at the dreary summit where the Windermere -Troutbeck road joins the Kirk st o n e road . Here we get a view o f Red Screes with a grand corrie in its side where soft blue shadows continually abide co n t rast in g with the rich red rock o f the mountain di itself. Roun ng the point we soon see the

ffi u hi Caist o n di c lt path w ch leads by Glen , at the head of Scandale , past the other side of Red

o f Screes to the K irkst o n e road . The view the

T HE ST ONY KI R KST ONE PASS angular lines o f the Screes as yo u reach C aist o n top from Scandale is very imposing . Brothers

Water is also seen far below . On the right we have a good view o f John ’ — Bell s Bann er the triangle -shaped side o f the great hi ll o n the right which is striped with wonderful orange - red blaeberry and pink red

- bracken suggesting a banner . On the left hand

o ld i n o w side we soon come to the Sm ddy , in hi ruins , w ch was used when the mines were

hi o n worked at t s spot . The Smiddy stands the o ld pack -horse track o n the other side o f the stream close to the new road on which we are k wal ing .

o f Now we get a view Brothers Water and , turning o ur faces to the road we have come

o f down , we have a good view the three great cone -topped hills that so finely fill the valley

- o n e Hart so at this point . The right hand is p dl Dodd , the next Mid e Dodd , and the third High

Hart SOp Dodd . The repetition of the ugly name Dodd does not suggest an imaginative peasantry

but the scene is very fine . There is an Eastern

o f look about these grand peaks , a suggestion

di . Sinbad in the valley of amonds We are , in

o ut o f fact , getting the stony , bleak , rather 26 WI L D L AKE L AND

depressing wilderness into o n e o f those rich and lovely and sheltered scenes whi ch the L ady o f the L akes keeps up her sleeve to astonish us with u when we become scornf l . We ex claim Behold how poverty-stricken and a moment later she

o f pours the wealth Golconda into o ur laps . The day is very hot and the green Hart so p

valley with its woods and water , is welcome and

refreshing . My companion whose very appear ance— six foot two and lean and lank and — brown as is the ribbed sea- sand suggests

l di o f Sinbad , now actua ly produces amonds

- another kind in the shape of a tea kettle , a spirit

— S — a - lamp teetotal pirits milk bottle , some pies ,

sandwiches and also a custard . He leads the way to a spot shaded from the wind down under — the bank o f the Caudle burn o r beck a delight

- ful stream . He lights the spirit lamp and goes dl o ff to get some cream from Cau e Beck Farm . We sat down in the shade out o f the burning

’ Sinbad s country kind of sun , and ate the pies , the sandwiches and the custard cake whi ch last I ’ was , fear , my friend s undoing for he had a sick

headache for the rest of the day . After visiting a friend ’s cottage and arranging

Hart so for tea , we went down to p Hall and thence T HE ST ONY KI R KST ONE PASS 927

k to the foot of Brothers Water and , ta ing a rowing — — boat the only o ne we pushed o ut and spent

u o n . three ho rs that lovely lake My friend ,

Sinbad , an enthusiastic fisherman , commenced to lash the water with hi s line and in three hours succeeded in catching three fat trout . During — these hours he seemed worried and anxious a thing unusual with him— but whether this anxiety was due to the scarcity of fish or to the custard

I could not make o ut . CHAPTER VII

SINB AD I N T HE V AL L E Y OF DIAMONDS

HE R E at Hart so p and K irk st o n e Foot we have come right to the back o f the Ambleside and Rydal region and have a new and commanding u l — object in f l view Dove Crag . Indeed it domin

i fin d ates the whole glen in wh ch we ourselves ,

o f huge , black , full deep shadows , threatening , thi s grim giant with his terrible cliffs and sharp

pointed neighbour crags . L ater as we get down into the valley we have also a good view o f Brothers Water looking very blue in the di stance a little way further down the valley . From the L ake we see to great advantage the

’ o f w pointed cone John Bell s Banner , other ise

Hart SO known as High p Dodd , and turn from this

-e hill to the two other volcano peaks , and then o f all continuing the semicircle , grandest come

to Dove Crag and hi s neighbours . The whole 28 SINB AD IN T HE VAL L E Y OF DIAMONDS 29

in fill - valley head is , fact , ed by those awe inspiring

and fantastic shapes . And now the glittering sun has put o u t the blue and taken possession o f the lake and we row up towards the head where the Hart so p beck flows into it between two pretty promontories

of grey stones . Along the head o f the lake the bleached sticks of last year ’s sedge make a fine contrast to the clear brown water and the low green alder and thorn bushes o f which there are great masses

here . L ooking up the lake there is a shadow n o w o n Middle Dodd peak while the cones o f his two l companions are in bril iant sunshine . Down the lake we have a good view o f Place Fell o n Ulls

o f o n t o o f water ; and High Street , the p which di f ll steep and ficult hi , there is the ancient Roman

— l i n road undoubted y Ro man th s o e . All the mountains o n that side are very bare o f trees

but on the other side , we have the wooded pack

o f horse road and a wealth greenery . Despite the absence o f wood there is no lack

t e hi l o f of colour on h l s at the head the Pass .

' At their top and down their sides they have ,

’ o f like John Bell s Banner , patches browns and 30 WIL D L AKE L AND bright yellows like velvet from the blaeberry plants and mosses , which give a striking and uncommon beauty .

Here and there the new sedge grass , very pale green , is showing through the faded brown reeds o f last year o n the margin o f the lake ; a

fine bit o f colour . The L ake itself has ever -changing hues here it is green and its wavelets are edged with deep blue shadows . The sky is very blue with very

o f white masses cloud here and there . A sand piper has just flashed past us across the stream .

Sinbad , my friend , is industriously and rather sadly fishing . The hills towards Ullswater up the lake look l f wel from here . They are deeply lined with cli fs , and patches of pale greens among grasses a little

o f k darker and remains pin bracken , give them a touch o fwarmth . ll These hi s , by the way , are very much like the excellent drawings in black and white made by ll the Ambleside artist Wi iam Green , fifty years ago . British art may have progressed , in some ,

but o f nay in many , ways , it has lost the power closely rendering landscape in black and white shown by Green . SINB AD IN T HE VAL LE Y OF DIAMONDS 3 1

The yellow-brown reeds now again make a fine

contrast with the blue water . A mist is creeping

’ solemnly up over Dove s grim crags and deep

- shadows . A sea gull is flying across the lake . I notice the dried black heather of last year o n the ll H hi above art so p Hall .

On the opposite side from the water , we have a good view o f the little village of Hart so p right

o f below the rocky wilderness High Street , so strangely chosen by the Romans fo r their camp o r rallying ground all those centuries ago and yet

- so unaltered to day . k For , no doubt the yellow reeds flan ed the blue lake in those days ; gorgeous blaeberry mixed with yellow mosses spread themselves o n John

’ Bell s Bann er ; the sandpiper flit t e d past with his pretty piping note ; the sea -gulls flew down the glen towards Ullswater , and the fishes often refused to bite and though my excellent Sinbad

— n was not there u less in a previous incarnation , the Roman sentinels sometimes di d their fishing without catching any fish and felt sad therefore , o r o n from having dined , if not custard , at least not wisely but t o o well .

SPOR T AND WIL D NAT UR E pool which was cut o fffrom the deep stream above

o ll f by a jamb r side pi ar o rock . Well he di ved so often and so quickly that both hounds and men were tired . Then some one pointed o ut that if they kept the little swimmer h under water long enoug , he would be forced to come up at last fo r air and then the twenty hounds plus the twenty gallant gentlemen could kill him .

They waited .

fo r At last the otter rose , gasping air and scrambled o n to a small ledge o f rock where he l u quick y lost all that delightf l vivacity , his splendid m kl swim ing powers , his quick wit and spar ing eye—that merry little fellow was killed and — mangled b y the Huns . Owing to this kind of sport the otter has L become rather rare in akeland , though I think

I ul o n e o u t know where I co d see , swimming in deep water , with a wave such as a steamer makes

o f l in front him , and his tai , moving in a semi

o f - circle , acting the part a steam propeller , much as a fox uses his brush to increase hi s speed when desperately hard pressed . The otter will alas ! soon disappear from the L ake District but he is no t t h e only o n e o f the interesting animals that have been thus persecuted . 5 34 WIL D L AKE L AND

A good many years ago Richard Je ffe rie s gave a list o f the birds and other creatures whi ch we f have almost killed o f . Many o f these (probably all) were certainly l— l f usefu the o w o r instance . Though I am glad to say the neglect of sport during the War allowed i the owls to recruit the r numbers , and during that time I knew o fo n e which took up its quarters

o f L in a large garden in the very heart ondon , which was much enclosed by walls and surrounded by other open spaces . So far as I have seen the magpie has quite L disappeared from the ake District . A most amusing fellow he is with a kind o f cockney

an d o n wit about him , he is ever ready to pal

nk with ma ind . L The raven was plentiful in the ake District . T o - day he is only seen in the recesses o f the mountains . Je ffe rie s gave a list o f creatures that had been persecuted o u t o f existence in the interests o f the — pheasant shooter the pine marten , polecat , eagle ,

b arrie r buzzard , falcon , kite , horned owl , and raven . The buzzard may now be seen again in the

L o u t ake District as pointed in another chapter . SPOR T AND WI L D NAT UR E

o r The badger brock , whose name in its Keltic form exists in so many place names in England

— l B ro ckb ank B ro okle and Scotland Brockwe l , ,

I b ro x L hurst , (Glasgow) has in wild akeland become quite extinct save in one landowner ’s

h o w preserve . These names show common it once was . CHAPTER IX

T HE S ACR IFIC E T O T R OUT

B UT perhaps most destruction has been done in the interests o f that voracious and cannibalistic

fish the trout , who devours not only the spawn o f his neighbours and o f his o wn cousins and aunts but also their infant children ! Here is a list o f the beautiful and interesting creatures that have been persecuted in the interests ff i o f the trout . The list was given by Je e r e s — many years ago . They total sixteen in all the

— o f l otter specia interest ; pike , perch ; heron , that beautiful bird ! the kingfisher regarded as

in o wl the handsomest bird bred the island the , o n e of the most serviceable to the farmers ; the di pretty moorhen ; the coot , grebe , ver , and the — wild- duck how charming t o see a party o f them o n —o n e n the wing in advance and two followi g . di The teal , the pper , the land rat , the water rat . 36 T HE SACR IFICE T O T R OUT 37

This makes fifteen . The sixteenth and last , is L the swan , so precious to akeland , so lovely and so di gnified that it deserves a chapter to itself

F o r in which we may consider its claims . the

do swan is a national pet and , like the g , has

’ citizen s rights if not a vote . We must remember too the rights o f the people wh o ~ sail up Winder mere and see the sixteen splendid birds o f which

o f Bowness boasts , curveting round the prow f their steamer waiting o r the visitors to feed them . N o w if the belief that condemned all these creatures to destruction in the interests o fa single species of fish were well founded and it became a question as to whether the o n e fish was to di sappear o r the sixteen other creatures sent by

n o t o u t of dl Nature doubtless merely i eness , I should say it were better to lose the o n e than the sixteen which included things so interesting as an otter and so beautiful as a swan . But when o n e comes t o make inquiries o n this point from those who should know what f ? . o do they say Mr John Watson Kendal , a

L o f o ur lifelong fisherman in akeland , says little

o f un - friend , A great deal natural history has been written about the otter careful observation goes to show that eels and fresh

T HE SACR IFI CE T O T R OUT 39 be believed : he said that you might as well shoot a swallow skimming over a turnip -fie ld as a di pper over the spawning grounds . This view Mr .

o n e John Watson considers to be the right . What the dipper actually does take fo r breakfast are

o f -fl -fl -fl the eggs the dragon y , May y and stone y , which flies are , Mr . Watson says , among the f chi ef enemies o trout spawn .

‘ ’ Richard Je fl e rie s list is not complete fo r to it might be added the dotterel whi ch has been

o n o f hunted down , not account any iniquity , but because its feathers are mistakenly believed by anglers to be o f special value in the making o f CHAPTER !

S CANDAL E FR OM NOOK E N D

t h e e e Doon burn Davi lov , t h e e e Doon burn Davi lov , Gang doon t h e burn Davie love And I will follow the e W CR R . AWFO D .

ON E of the o ld-world spots in L akeland is reached by taking the road o n the left from the foot o f

o n Smithy Brow , Ambleside , and through the l ” splendid y wooded Nook , past the kennels of ll the Coniston Hunt on the hi to the right , till you reach L ower Scandale o r Nook End bridge at Nook End . Over the bridge passed

o ld - the pack horse track , and still goes , despite

o f ll obstructions , across the face Scandale Hi

hi o n to Rydal Fell w ch it crosses , and through

o f the stable yard Rydal Hall to Grasmere . But there is another ancient right o fway after crossing h llo Nook bridge . T is track fo ws the S candale 40

SCANDAL E FR OM NOOK E ND 41

h o f burn right up the Glen , throug a bit fairy

1 862 : di land . As Prior ( ) says Un ne herself might have emerged from the grotto -pool o f this ” solitude . Presently the river sweeps round finely and there is a succession o f six o r seven waterfalls small but very lovely . Keeping low down by the — a l burn very wet wa k it is , by the way , but well worth doing—you can cross the iron bridge at the

o f intake the Manchester Corporation , and get a good view o f the brown stream gurgling and hurrying along under the green leaves . The old right of way crossed the river hereabouts by a publi c bridge and led you on to the Scandale

Glen and Patterdale road . As the whole o f that

o f road is great beauty and interest , it is best to leave it for a separate walk . So close down by the burn in that leafy

di o ur . para se , we pick way By this time we are under high cliffs and bank s clad with larch and

o f mi fir , and the swish them , ngled with the

o f o f murmur the stream , makes you think

- far off Perthshire o rArgyll . Keeping along the west bank we cross some very wet bracken and come under the small

b ut o f the stone quarries on the other side . The woods are still very rich and lovely and we get 6 42 WI L D L AKE L AND

L o w peeps of distant hills . Scandale Fell and

Pike , his partner , are now above us . lk And so , after a long but delightful wa in an intimate contact with the woodlands such as we cannot get anywhere else in the neighbourhood

o ur in this perfection , we make way into the Open , just above the small but steep and rocky waterfall

o u at ancient Sweden Bridge . On a week day y probably will not meet a soul till you get to the

bridge itself. There you may find a lover and

ll o r his lass , but you wi not be crowded out

blinded with motor dust . The water o f the Scandale burn is drunk by the town Of Ambleside and none better can be

Of found . Some it is also taken all the way to Manchester because a pipe o f the Thirlmere scheme Of that city crosses the Scandale Glen

lower down as has been said .

UPPE R S CANDAL E AND CAI ST ON

Just beyond the nice Old bridge a ruin may be

h o h . o r o u se seen It is , has been , what is called a g ,

o f A hog is a sheep two years , and the name

Ho art Hogarth or gg (Hogherd) means a shepherd . At the bridge o n the rising ground the Old SCANDAL E FR OM NOOK E ND fo o t ro ad runs across several stiles to the field above Nook End bridge over which yo u can get back into Ambleside .

C AI ST ON GL E N AND R E D S CR E E S

From the continuation Of the footpath just above the waterfall we get a fine view down

towards Windermere and the bills to the south . This is the View that John Martin the painter o f L ” The ast Judgment , Sadak in search Of the Waters o f Oblivion and other pictures in their di day strange and new , accor ng to local tradition ” took for his Plains Of Heaven . Certainly it

- is a wide spreading and commandi ng View . The road now leaves the burn and runs along

S n arke r l so under Pike , the hil that looks fine

from the Hawkshead road . On the left we have

Scandale Fell with its summit High Pike . The

road , which is very wet and has become a mere

track , takes another bend to the east as we l l approach the great hil ca led Red Screes . The scenery at this part o fthe glen is bare and

bleak with little colour . We are now approaching a wall o f hills the shapes o f whi ch do not declare

themselves from this height , but seen from Kirk

SCANDALE FR OM NOOK E ND 45

u with its series of terrific chasms , their wonderf l red colour making a most subtle and alluring contrast to the bleached and withered grass of

o n e the Glen itself. It is a great sight and which has the element Of surprise about it to an unusual degree . CHAPTER XI

G L E N S CANDAL E AN D I T S V IE WS

FR OM Caist o n Glen there is an extensive view

di f ul towards Brock Crags , Angle Tarn , fic t of

B o ardale l approach , the Pikes , Hause , Place Fel

21 5 4 B ann rd le e a . ( ) , and Martindale Forest The

View to the east is , however , shut in by Red Screes and Middle Dodd the cone - topped northern end Of the mass Of which Red Screes forms the southern part . On the left stands High Hart so p Dodd whi ch forms the cone -topped northern end Of’ the mass Of which L ittle Hart

Crag is part . The descent Of nearly 2000 feet into K irk st o n e Foot down C aist o n Glen is very wet and rough

u o f and the gro nd is full small rills which , hidden in the grass , may easily cause a sprained ankle . Even if the descent is made it is di fficult to find the way o n to the K irkst o n e road owin g to 46 GL E N SCANDAL E AND I T S VIE WS 47 the many walls you have t o climb and the frail bridge you may not easily find . And , well the

n o t o r country is very pleasant homely just here . We have n o t yet got o u t o f the bare wilderness o f

K irk st o n e Scandale Head and Foot , into rich and

Hart so romantic p, nor can we see the Arabian l l Night ike hil s down which we have plunged . They have not yet got di stance in which to group l themselves . Then the wa k back to Ambleside by the main road is a rather dreary and very tough o n e . S O that on the whole it is better far not to

Caist o n nl descend Glen , u ess you are making for

t o o u Patterdale , but go back the way y came hr o f t ough Scandale , only instead keeping by

- the burn , take the road on the other , south east , side Of the glen and you will have an easy down l hil road all the way to Ambleside . On this road are some o f the finest views Of t he great western ill h s . When you return to high Sweden Bridge yo u

t o take the road the left , and , after passing through the first gate , you begin to get some grand views o f High Pike . From the quarry hut the view Of the blue hills above the trees which fill the deep and narrow channel Of the Scandale 48 WIL D L AKE L AND

burn , is very fine . And later over the shoulder o f High Pike as you look north yo u get more distant hills bathed sometimes in yellow light .

i o n A l ttle further , at the second gate , you have a fin e larch wood . High Pike ’s blue haze acquires a splendi d setting when the young larch comes o ut in its

o r warm yellow hue , when it is passing into the soft purple brown Of autumn . At the swing

o n gate with the larch wood your left , all the time

o f looking back , the scene and the sound the

wn l murmuring waters do below , are ike a chapter hl o ut o f the West Hig ands .

Then , beyond the last gate , the road rising all the time , turns round south and from the height

o u l o f y , looking back , get a delightful g impse the f i road itsel , down wh ch we have just walked , with

n the great hills o the left all the way . But even these views Of High Pike are not the best things Scandale has to justify o ur choos

o k K irkst o n e ing t w wal s in it to one in Pass . F o r now there breaks upon us a magnificent

o f L view the angdales in all their splendour , ll and beyond them great B o wfe . Running along this east side Of them is a dark glen which throws up with mysterious grandeur the long line Of

GLE N SCANDALE AND I T S VI E WS j agged hills that end in the wonderful and de

u lightf l battlements , which we call by the silly name o f Crinkle Crags and Shelter Crags . The less prosaic Welsh o r Scots o r Irish would have called them Caist e e l Ab b ail (C ast ch e e l Avail) that is the Peaks o f the Castles o r by a high

soundi ng word like S ch ie h allio n o r B le n cat h ara. The view is made more magnificent by the l fact that from the road we are trave ling , which is

800 - some feet above sea level , all the land slopes downward towards the link ed valleys Of the

h a L R o t h a B rat l . y , the y and the angda e Beck Thi s fact gives the appearance o f monstrous height to the group o f hills we have in front Of

us at this point . Into these dim , mysterious l w l k va leys great crags run do n i e buttresses , bold l and massive , their ines suggestive Of strength

o n e and power , and at spot in the very centre of l the gap between these hil slopes , which come

o f from either side the great glens , we see the B f ll whole form of o w e . Then we must n o t forget that between us and this Gargantuan land we have mping down from

our very feet , the greenest Of grass lands , where the lambs skip and the cattle graze in summer time for we are on the very edge Of Ambleside

GLE N SCANDALE AND I T S VI E WS 5 1

In a few moments we are at Chapel Hill o n

t o o f i the p wh ch , close to the church , sits like a

i - hen guarding her ch ckens , the Old manor house

o r - - it is generally called , a very well to do states

’ man s house it may have been . What is more to the point it is quite the most interesting house

between Ambleside and Troutbeck , and the very best specimen of the home of the well-t o -do of

o r the late sixteenth early seventeenth century ,

hi Ob se r in t s part Of Westmorland , so far as my

h Of vation has gone . It is bigger t an the house

al di the W msley family , and has been vided into

o ut five tenements . It has not been altered Of al its origin character , fortunately , and I hope

may never be . Next to it is a huge barn which ll was , much later , the vi age school , in which

Hartley Coleridge was one o f the masters . The site o f the Old manor-house as o f Chapel Hill

generally is very fin e . It formed the chief part

Of the ancient town Of Ambleside . The Old manor-house was recently sold but it found a

nl kee y appreciative buyer fortunately , in an artist , Miss Grundy . CHAPTER XII

OFF T HE B E AT E N T R ACK

N E w VAL UE OF OL D ROADS AND FOOT PAT HS

U P to the coming o f the railway and the canal

o n - all the traffic was carried pack horses , a fact

l t o we are a ittle apt forget . Trains Of these

o r animals laden with goods , went once twice weekly and sometimes Oftener between the

- villages and towns . The trains Of pack horses

fo r leaving Kendal , instance , by the old road over

Hardk n o t hi Pass for W tehaven , numbered as 00 di many as 3 . The lea ng horse wore above his k hi head in a ind Of collar , a bell w ch signalled the approach o f the procession to the buyers in the country houses and farms as the traders advanced

over the fells , much as in the towns , an interesting

’ - survival , the muffin man s bell , does to day . The ancient pack -horse roads still remain o n the hills ; portions o f them were Often included in 52 OF F T HE B E ATE N T R ACK 53

MacAdam the new roads by , Telford and other

engineers . Of these roads there is a good specimen in di use for instance , lea ng from Troutbeck to k l ill i Ambleside by High S e g . Th s road still continues till it joins the o ld Ambleside main

L o w F ish e rb e ck L o w road at Fold , and Field L and Gale Firs , where it descends at Gale odge into the o ld village and turns up North road to ll i Scandale and E e r g . Its ancient main track — as shown in Old maps the Ordnance o f 1 865

L o w for instance , continued over Scandale Bridge

at Nook End , Ambleside , and went through l where the present stone wal now obstructs it ,

completely barring the way . The road swept round Rydal valley o n the high ground and passed th rough the stable -yard of Rydal Hall

to Rydal Mount . It then continue d and still

o f does so , at the top side Rydal Mount to

Grasmere via White Moss and Dove cottage . At Rydal Mount road it is crossed by the ancient right o f way up the Rydal burn and by the right

o f way over Nab Scar . The Old villages o f Ambleside and Smithy ll Brow, North Road and Chapel Hi stand upon the southern part Of this road and the whole Of 54 WIL D L AKE L AND

f i o f the tra fic of th s side the valley , as Miss Armit

o ut . i pointed , went along it The present ma n di d Rydal road not then exist . At Rydal this ancient road was joined by the Old pack -horse track which can be seen in parts

in beside the newer road , and is in some places

cluded in the newer road , from Pelter Bridge

Ho w Cla e rs at e R o t h a by Fox to pp g , y Bridge ,

B o rran s Waterhead and the Roman Camp at ,

Ambleside . Before the building Of the present lodge o f Rydal Park in the Rydal road there was another ancient right o f way called the Church Path

L e ske t h from the main road near How , across

o u t Rydal Park ; this track also , came in the

- o f stable yard Of Rydal Hall . For the benefit the owners o f Rydal this was moved some 1 00

u yards f rther west , by agreement with the local authorities , and crossed the wall near the present lodge . The stile has vanished but the right of way remains . Before the church at Ambleside was built all the church traffic travelled t o Gras mere by these two roads for services , marriages , christenings and funerals . The present Rydal road di d not then exist . S k Below the river toc in North road , the OF F T HE B E AT E N T R ACK 55 present Ambleside was in the parish o f Winder

dire c mere . Its church traffic went in an Opposite tion all the way to St . Martins , Bowness . On the Grasmere side , that is , above Stock , the Church Path was met by a track which struck

R o t h a across the valley and , by a ford over the y , it joined the Clappe rsgat e - Fox Ho w pack -horse road leading to Pelter Bridge and Grasmere . Harriet Martineau in her Guide writing in

1 85 5 described the Nook Farm and Scandale Beck . She says the traveller must cross the bridge and follow the cart road whi ch brings him at once upon the fells . She also refers to the way up F airfield by L o w Scandale that is L o w

o r Sweden Nook End Bridge , it bears all these

’ M rra G ui o f 1 88 . u s de 9 names y also , , shows

o n in its map very clearly , the road the Rydal side o f the Scandale burn going from the bridge almost straight up the hill and then turning west a little and taking a line higher than the high fall o n Rydal beck . The map also shows the road going up Rydal beck beyond the high fall towards

F a l - irfie d . It shows too the well known Nab Scar track and the ancient conti nuation o f the L o w hi Sweden Bridge and Grasmere Road w ch , ll now in a most neglected state , passes the wa s 56 WIL D L AKE L AND o f hi e nkin Rydal Mount and on to W te Moss . J m 1 87 3 son also , writing , in his map clearly shows the road running north from the bridge parallel with Scandale Beck and continuing in a track

F airfie ld towards . The course o f the Scandale Beck was altered

lin some years ago . It originally took a e higher u o n p the fell towards Rydal . In 1 621 Miss Armit says the cloth trade was an important one to Ambleside di strict . On

fo r the Stock there were at least five mills , three

l o n e fu ling and for corn . There was also a l paper mi l which was turned by the Stock . The planting below Nook End Farm still bears the

o f name Paper Mill Coppice .

’ Mart in e au s At the Knoll , Harriet Old home , there is another ancient right o f way with a ford hi over the R o t h ay . The white swing gate w ch crosses this road is marked Private but it is shown in all the maps I know as a track Farther o n there is the well -known St o n n y

’ L n L — on y , that is , Stony oanin the stony L field , not Stony ane as is assumed This delightful track crosses the R o t h ay at Miller

Bridge . It is in no danger of being lost to the fi pub c .

OF F T HE B E AT E N TR ACK

In view o f the enormous increase o f motor traffic o n L akeland roads and the discomfort and danger it causes to foot passengers , the import

b - ance of preserving such y roads as these , and especially the ancient alternative road from Nook End Bridge by Rydal Hall and Rydal Mount t o

White Moss and Grasmere , cannot be exaggerated .

o n We lls T rees In his interesting little book , , dl and T ravel T racks Mr . George Mid eton of

Ambleside says , these ancient roads often run at a moderate height along the hillsides and cut dl through passes , but some bol y cross over the

o n fell sides . He goes to make the interesting suggestion that roads Of this type which mount the hills and are known as Roman roads are

Of far greater antiquity than the Roman period , being in fact the veritable paths o f the home ” o f landers . Taking the character the ground dl into account Mr . Mid eton says , and I believe he is right , the Romans were well pleased with ” the existing tracks and used them .

Of On some of them , he adds , remains Roman work can be found , for , doubtless the Romans would improve them and strengthen o r rebuild ” - o r al the watch towers stations ong their route .

dl nl Of Mr . Mid eton thinks that the o y road 8 58 WI L D L AKE L AND purely Roman origin in the neighbourhood is that over High Street mountain . It has a paved

o f20 way feet wide and was , he suggests , intended i i as a l nk between garrison and garrison . W nter ul hi experience wo d , as he says , prove t s road to be more ambitious than serviceable .

o f I believe Mr . Middleton is right course in hilly di stricts the roads were seldom made down in the bottom Of the glens before the nineteenth

u l cent ry because the val eys were so wet , and for the same reason the strath o r flat land surroundi ng the rivers in the valleys was not cultivated in those

ul o n o f days . The c tivation was the sides the hills above . This custom was universal in Scot

Old land , and the marks Of the cultivation can still everywhere be seen . It was not till the latter half Ofthe eighteenth century that drainage commenced and the rich , sheltered , wet straths were cultivated .

T HE K I R K ST ON E P Ass OL D ROAD

The Old pack - horse road through the K irkst o n e Pass is probably o n e o f the most ancient in the district . By it , chiefly , my countrymen came from the other side Of Tweed when they set o u t OF F T HE B E AT E N T R ACK 59

’ — Old to drive ta cattle other people s . This road was the thoroughfare , the historic highway

We st m o r from the north . From Ambleside the land men used to hurry to stop the foe if possible , before they descended into the more fruitful fields o n Windermere side and in the R o t h ay and

B rat h ay valleys . In the K irk st o n e Valley this track may still

o n be seen the north side Of the road , near the ruins o f the Old Smiddy attached to the mines which were once worked at the spot . This track is in a good state Of preservation and is still in use all the way down to Hart S Op Hall where it went through the passage which has now been roofed over to form the entrance hall

Of the reconstructed house . The story is told ,

o n e and I believe it is true , that day a horseman rode up to the new door of what is now the l entrance hal , and demanded admittance so that

N O - he might ride through . new fangled road , he claimed , could deprive the public Of this ancient right Of way . It ended amicably by his riding through as was his right . The road is di continued at the back and , under splen d trees ,

o f o u above the shores Brothers Water , takes y

Hart SO down to p Bridge a very lovely road it is . CHAPTER XIII

’ R YDAL S FE L L S AND C OR NFIE L DS

I N PR AISE OF HUSBAND R Y

What toil can give such sights and sounds as ours What craft such gracious m e morie s doth yie ld Th e e e e call of lowing h rds wh n hom ward bound , e e - e e t h e e e Wading kn d p amongst clov r flow rs , ’ Th h e e e lave rock hove ring o e r t m llow fie ld .

e e e t h e e e Som pictur fills ach day whol y ar round , ’ For thos e who labour in t h e e arth s de m e sne — Sights that can ravish s e nse and swe e te r sound e e - e e Sc nts of lush grass and languorous m adow qu n .

M C E NZ E M c R I A K I A B DE .

T HE famous Rydal valley follows the windings o f the river R o t h ay from Grasmere to Ambleside and includes the fin e pass between Nab Scar o f the

F airfie ld L L r range , and anty Scar and ough igg . B e low the fells lies some Of the best agricultural

co rnfields land in Westmorland , rich and pastures f and splendi d woodlands . Around it are some o L the most romantic of the akeland mountains , 60 R Y DAL ’S FE L L S AND COR NFIE L DS

l hil s remarkable for their noble outlines . They form quite the finest group I know in Eng

R o t h a land , and Nature in the y Valley has spread the richest garlands at their feet . The Valley is a continuation o f the great gap that L contains Windermere ake itself. From it nearly

o f L ll all the highest the akeland hi s can be seen . Nowhere else in northern England can we

o f o f find the same wealth verdure , flowers , wild and cultivated . The yellow stonecrop invades even the bare stone walls , and hangs down in loops and festoons a foot deep along the roads . Around even the hard stony hills show patches

l nk of bracken , bleached by autumn to a pa e pi . The tall fir trees stand up in sharp contrast to

- the fells , with their dark leaves and rose madder stems ; in early spring the larch tree , hardy

nl o n e and quick in growth , and the o y Of the

n o u t pi e family that casts its foliage , opens

- S afresh in golden yellow plendour . Wordsworth vu Opposed its introduction as a lgar newcomer , but no one can deny that it lends a new and rich beauty to the becks an d burns that flow down from the sides o fthe mountains whose dark forms shut in this paradi se . F airfield rears hi s long and graceful front 62 WIL D L AKE L AND

- sheltering the Rydal Glen from the north east , towering to 2863 feet and joining hands with

o f Helvellyn . Nab Scar lies west it and its cone topped fellows , Heron Pike , Great Rigg and

’ L ord Crag run o ut at an angle from F airfie ld s

o f great rampart . On the west side the valley

L f o f L r opposite , anty Scar an o fshoot ough igg (the long hill that fills up the space from Water head to Grasmere) runs picturesquely o u t into

T o this Rydal , Ambleside , Grasmere Valley .

- S e r e an t man the north west lie the g , Greenup L Edge the imposing mass of the angdale Pikes , ll All B o wfe . , and Crinkle Crags these mountains are bare and bleak , and all the hills to the east are bleak and bare also ; the Ambleside valley lies like a very jewel in their midst . The south end o f Windermere is tamer though rich and pastoral , and Derwentwater is perhaps more beautiful but it has nothing to compare m t h the wonderful scenery at the northern head of its great rival . CHAPTER XIV

T HE OL D ST AT E SME N

AMB L E SIDE AND TR OUT B E CK PR IVIL E G E S

MR E R G E T E . G O GA Y in an article How Custom ” ary Tenure was established in Westmorland , some years ago pointed o ut that in that county farms were held o n condi tion o f providing men to take the field against the Scots for a limit o f forty days in the year . If I remember rightly

’ these tenants paid the usual two years rent o n change o f tenant by death o r alienation but in Ambleside and Troutbeck they only paid o n e

’ ’ year s rent o n change Of lo rd and t wo years rent o n change of tenant .

Mr . Gatey suggested that the reason why Ambleside and Troutbeck paid less was that when the Scots made their forays o n horseback there were only two passes reasonably accessible by which they could raid the lands of lower 63

T HE OL D ST AT E SME N 65

0 o f of the value of from £ 1 5 to £3 rental . Most

‘ these were bought up later by the big landowners , hi a fact w ch has been greatly deplored by many , both for sentimental reasons and for those o f l public economy . It fol owed that men in the L ake District , as in Scotland , have everywhere

o r given place to sheep game . The consequence was that when the enemy came and foreign supplies were stopped we went short o f bread

and potatoes and oatmeal and other cr0ps . T h e Statesmen filled also another important

function , they governed themselves and showed their interest in education when any opportunity

’ ff al o ered , as will be seen from Adam W ker s

’ account o f Auld Ho ggart s Plays at Troutbeck

which I quote in another chapter .

t wo A small sum , one or pence , was paid by

the Statesmen to the lord of the manor , but as Miss Armit points o ut taking Ambleside as an

example , the statesmen Braithwaites , Forresters ,

ackso n s Newtons , J and the tradesmen ruled while the lord Of the manor had little o r nothing t o

do with the town .

OL D WE ST MOR L AND HOUSE S 67

boards . With proper ventilation this would be perfectly dry—drier t han the present earth and l flag floors , and wou d save these , often roomy Old u places , to charm f ture generations . The Old houses with the small windows and tremendously thick walls were most o f them built

r o ut in the seventeenth centu y to keep the Scots . l Before about the midd e of that century , the farm

’ st at e sm e n s o n houses and houses generally , both

o f o f sides the Border , were made wood and mud and were practically fireproof. The stone peels and castles were built by the wealthier landowners . Among the best specimens o f the o ld States

’ men s house I know is the farm -house Of Gle n co in

S t b arro w l near y on U lswater , and the house of

l . the Walmsley fami y on Chapel Hill , Ambleside

The latter , I think I have been able to prove , belonged formerly to the Old and well - to do

o f family of Forrester , the main branch which died o ut 1 about 7 3 0. The house was bought by the grandmother o f the present owners . The place is in splendi d repair and the o at -bread press with f ll the initials o the Forresters is sti preserved , an excellent example of the Old wood carving in which the Westmorland folk excelled . The 68 WIL D L AKE L AND Westmorland man ’s lack of romance and of his

t o rical o f - background , also his lack folk songs as compared with the tremendous mass possessed

t o by the Borderer , have been referred by many

writers including some o f the best like Mr . dl a o . . . Herman Prior long g , and Mr A G Bra ey , but I suggest that in thi s art Of carving wood

We st me rian — the found himself and could , with — a training in ornament do excellent work . The ornament used o n the presses and coffers

- and oat bread presses is very mixed . It has

generally some few local survivals of Keltic work , f but is in the main o Renaissance date and origin . CHAPTER XVI

AN OL D C OUNT Y T OWN

HAWK SHE AD AND I T S AN CIE NT S T R E E T S

h e e e e t h e O pl asant , pl asant w r days , Th e e e tim wh n in our childish plays , My siste r E mm e line and I Toge the r chas e d t h e butte rfly A ve ry hunte r did I rush — Upon t h e pre y with le aps and springs e e I follow d on from brak to bush , B ut sh e G o d e h e r e e , lov f ar d to brush

Th e dust from o ffits wings .

WO R DSWO R T H .

Hw SHE AD is not quite an o ld county town but it is next door to being one , for it was the legal and administrative centre o f the ancient di strict o f Furness long before big towns like f Barrow were thought o . There the Abbot o f Furness and his Bailiff held their Manor Courts in the o ld hall whi ch stands a little to the side o f the main road from Ambleside . In this Old 69

AN OL D COUNT Y T OWN

’ WO R DS WOR T H S S C HOOL

However , he consented to walk up to the Old Free Grammar School where Wordsworth and

his brother , who by the way became Headmaster

f . o Trinity , went as boys The school was founded

l wh o by one of the same Sandys fami y , was Arch

o f 1 65 8 . bishop York , in My friend Aramis knew the town intimately and walked through it with precision , very much as though he had been taking an inventory for a client . However , even a deliberate man does not need to make a long stay in Hawkshead to discover its quaint courts and squares filled with

n o n e white cottages joi ing another , and note the adoption o f narrow entrances as was done so l notably in Penrith , Alston and Kenda . As in these places , in fact , the houses and the whole

Of town , were built with the aim making rallying points which could be h eld by small numbers o f

o n Hawkshead men . This days when Galloway nags and Highland pomes that could S peed up

Of the steepest fell , brought their masters , men

ff t o many songs and much cha , lift the cattle and

’ such gear as could be placed cannily o n a pony s — back and what could n o t be 72 WI L D L AKE L AND

’ all - On those occasions , the young ne er dae

’ weels who had been breaking other folk s heads ,

’ o r l o r stealing other fo k s beasties , who had

-in - turbulent mothers law , slid out of the town ,

as the invaders were leaving in the mirk , and joined in among the blue bonnets behind the

F o r pipers . it was well known that most sacred Of all things to a Scot was the law Of hospitality

and that a Scottish host fought for his guest .

So it was that , despite the repeated protests made

o f by the kings England , against the harbouring

o f by the Scots Englishmen who were wanted ,

the refugee was safe . Again it was some advantage to these men that in Scotland yo u could be hanged only for some twenty offences while under English law you could be hanged for over a hundred ! There was l thus , for business men ike these , much more

fo r scope in Scotland , and the hangman much

less .

CHAPTER XVII

E ST HWAI T E WAT E R

AN D T HE WAY BACK

Y E S L , if akeland visitors want to see a most delightful specimen o f an ancient Border town they should find Aramis and get him to take them to Hawkshead . If they go without him they will never be able to break away from its charm and enchantments , but Aramis being Of legal leanings has no compunction and will take them home . It should be known t hat Hawkshead had a

o ne great and busy hiring fair , and at time had ~ yet another claim to importance ; it was the centre in this now lonely region for the sale o f

all woollen yarns and woollen garments . In

r the fa ms and houses and cottages in the north ,

n - s irmin the spi ning wheel was kept going , p g the

o f wool from the local flocks sheep , and the West 7 3 10 74s WI L D L AKE L AND

l k L hl morland farmers , i e the owland and Hig and l farmers , were clad entirely with cloth and wool en

o wn garments made in their homes .

But I have not quite done . Before we leave Hawkshead we must take a peep at E st hwait e

’ nl - the o y quiet going , gentleman s park kind of

lake in thi s di strict .

o f ld l It has none the wi gipsy love iness of Blea ,

o r G rise dale Angle or tarn , but there is a beauty o f the noon as well as o f the scarlet dawn and the

- E st h wait e flaming gold red sunset . and Elter

o f water , and the tame southern end Windermere ,

- have that more sober mid day beauty . From the road from Hawkshead to Ambleside we get a much finer series o f views than when journeying to Hawkshead . On the right as we

Co lt h o u se leave the town we have the heights , and

beyond them , the Claife Heights above Winder mere to the west we have Hawkshead moor and

C o lt h . o u se Coniston Moor beyond At , by the

way , there is an Old quaker church and burial

ground o f much interest . When we reach the hamlet o fOutgate we begin to get far finer views at each turn of the road . Seen from this side o fthe lake Wan sfe ll h as a new di dl fo r gnity and is har y recognisable that reason . E ST HWAI T E WAT E R 75

Of F airfie ld we have a magnificent view and also o f his satelli te Hart Crag . Red Screes towers up to the right o f these graceful giants like a huge

Wo un dle lump , with Fell in the centre , and

o n l o ut Opposite , the right is the always gracefu

Of line Ill Bell .

l S n arke r On the other side , a ittle nearer , is i ff Pike , wh ch also O ers a much sharper , finer , cone - like outline than that we see from the

as Ambleside neighbourhood , do his neighbours L High and o w Pikes . In fact all the summits to the north-east show us their peaks which are all at their south -west end and stand grandly over the wonderfully beautiful Ambleside and Rydal

Valley . The Hawkshead road stands Opposite the centre

’ of these most graceful of We st mo rlan d s moun f tains . As the land in front o us slopes down towards Windermere the result is that from n o other road I know can we get a view o fthese giant hills so complete , so varied and so unobstructed . From Hawkshead there is a splendi d walk southward by the S hores o f Windermere and the woods o f Furness to the Ferry Inn where we can cross to Bowness and get a coach to Windermere

ll o r vi age Ambleside .

GR ASME R E OF T HE GAR DE NS

Th e rowan throws a te nde r spray T o his e t h e lady lov across way ,

And looks into h e r e ye s all day .

t h e Ma - e e e And by y tr yond r, grows 1 Th e flowe r t h e Pe rsian maide n knows Fit e ve n to match our We ste rn rose

’ Y e t t h e e e s mongst w d , that vagrant band , fe w e e e e A rar plants n gl ct d stand , ' S e t by a vanishe d lady s hand .

T e e e e e e e e hus v n h r , wh r all s ms glad, e And in romantic raim nt clad , Th e thoughts com e ste aling strange and sad

For it is like t h e world inde e d Th e rare plant hidde n by t h e we e d Choke d by its foolish strife and gre e d

E MACKE N Z I E MACB R ID .

GR ASME R E is well known as a climbing centre

o f L but it is more than that , it is all the ake ll District vi ages richest in gardens and flowers .

ni L The mag ficent gardens of ake Road , Winder mere , are show places and from them we can get o n e o f the finest views o f the splendi d Crin kle

B o wfell Crags and group , but Grasmere is a homely spot and she wears her flowers naturally as the May Q ueen ’s garlands are worn by a

Th e lilac . 78 WIL D L AKE L AND

a country maid . Grasmere ch rms you with its

simplicity as well as by its beauty . The village we can call Grasmere a village without offendi ng the villager—is also more local than modernised

Windermere and ambitious Ambleside . At Gras mere great service has been done to keep the l Westmorland dia ect in Westmorland , where it l u a . sho d be , by the annual dialect pl y All the parts are taken by natives but the plays were started over thirty years ago by a Scotswoman

N O o ne Miss Caroline Fletcher . but a Scot would have shown so much appreciation of other

’ folk s good things In o ld times we appreciated di ! their cattle , to day we appreciate their alect Miss Fletcher fo r many years wrote the plays herself while her father was Rector of the Parish . She is still keenly interested in them and I had the di stinction o f sitting beside her at the play o f last winter and it was only by turning the conversation o n to the Scots dialect that I dis covered who Sh e was . Yes I understand it

l t o (the play), I rep ied in answer a question , quite well— it is like Braid Scots with the music ” ”

o ut . left Ah yes , she replied promptly , I love the Broad Scots the best o f all .

!

o u . Then y must be Miss Fletcher , I said G R ASME R E OF T HE GAR DE NS 79

o n e Your dialect play idea is a splendid , I wish ” other districts would take it up . Besides its play Grasmere is noted for its

’ o n — R u sh b e aring ceremony St . Oswald s Day the

very prettiest procession I have ever seen . The

custom is also upheld at Ambleside , Great Mus

grave and Warcop on Old Midsummer Day . It used to be common also in many parts o f L anca

shire .

’ G R ASME R E S SAINT WHO R E S E MB L E D T HE KAI S E R

’ o fG rasm e re s St . Oswald is the name charming

Old church . Did Oswald deserve this high com plim e n t o f being the saint to whom the church that fits best its surroundings in all L akeland is ? dedicated King Oswald it was who , a century after the English o fthe Kingdom o fNorthumbria had been taught Christiani ty by the Scots monks

o f L Iona and indisfarne , attempted to convert

and conquer the Mercians . Oswald had been sheltered when in trouble

by Scotland and was converted , and baptized at

o n Iona . He was very keen the new religion but

’ when he was able to recapture his father s throne he tried to make the best o fboth worlds by seizing

o f - the territory his fellow Christians the Welsh .

GR ASME R E OF T HE GAR DE NS

VIL L AG E INDUST R IE S

’ If G rasm e re s Saint fails lamentably t o with stand honest criticism , Grasmere herself deserves f praise for her ef orts to develop village industries , and so to save L akeland workers from the tainted

o f air factories and towns . The exhibition held at Grasmere last summer which was Open to all

o n e comers , was an admirable and set visitors enquiring fo r village -made cups and saucers from Hart so p brass - work from Morecambe and

- Keswick and needle work from all the villages .

E ASDAL E TARN 83 leaves at their feet with the glittering silver o f the burn below . The scene is very Highland in character as we follow the stream ; the great boulders are covered with gorgeous mosses and lichens yellow , gold , green , brown , copper , a wonderful variety ; while o n the margin Of the burn under

firs the , and rendered vivid by their dark tops , is a stretch of lush green pasture . Now as we ascend a quite easy slope to see the

l S waterfa l , we reach a brown pool shot with ilk like green and fringed with rich red bracken , as

’ though all the wealth o f nature s mine had been

flung down at this spot . With Helm Crag on o ur right and Silver How

o f on our left , we reach the fall ; a small streak

’ water o r grey mare s tail as they would call it u f rther north . The scenery is wilder with every

o f step we take , and the whirr the paitrick reaches — us , suggesting far off things . We are surrounded by the great hills

- Helvellyn to the north east , Helm Crag above us

u F airfie ld and , f rther south , Rydal Fell , and Seat

Sandal . On the west we have Greenup Edge , the Borrowdale Fells beyond , and the great L angdale range to the south . 84: WI L D L AKE L AND

The trees are now few here is a lonely o n e o n

- a pillar shaped crag. The grey rocks are studded with gold and emerald moss and the great boulders lying about are splashed with moss streaked with

red and palest green . There are a few savin

' (Junip erus sabzn a) bushes and a tree sticking o ut o f a cleft in a crag above . The burn above the waterfall as we ascend takes a sharper note something like what we hear o n the sea coast . The track winds up amongst the bracken towards the lip of the basin o f rock in whi ch lies

the tarn , romantically hidden away in the gap

between Helm Crag and Silver How . And now we are at the top and enter a di fferent

region again . We are right among the mountains , the smiling Grasmere valley could hardly be more di ff erent from this spot where no tree grows , not

even the hardy savin bush , and where no bird

sings . b ut And below us , when we reach the small

where in summer time refreshments are sold , m though it is closed on this autu n day , we see spread o ut below the eastern barrier Of hills ; ll di hi s clad with the splen d red bracken , save

o where the crags are t o bare and precipitous . But E ASDAL E T AR N 85 on the stoniest crags even we see sometimes the

- wonderful yellow green lichen and mosses . To the north black crags overhang the loch

T o o r tarn so that it is completely encompassed .

- t wo o f l the south east , looking over lines hil s ,

the view is especially grand . The tarn itself has n o w caught something o fthe rich browns and reds Of the hills , and in the

S o f o f hadow at the foot the lake , it reflects much the grim blackness o f the crags at its northern

end .

The story is told by De Q uincey , and all the L d ake District writers tell it to ay , how many years ago George Green and his wife who lived

E asdale o n in , were lost in a heavy snowstorm L their way home from angdale . Their six chil

dren , the oldest a girl Of nine , were snowed up

E asdale fo r in their cottage some days , until the oldest girl made her way o ut and reached Grasmere village and the children were promptly

rescued . The bodies of their father and mother were discovered on the fells by a search party

’ E asdale after three days labour . Tarn has known — o n e other tragedy a man committed suicide in

its gloomy depths .

R I SE DAL E R E L D OL L Y WAG GON P E 87 G , FAI FI D , IK

inch by inch some twenty - five thousand years

ago . A S we climb up the steep road we soon see

o f o n e o f the great , almost straight line the — L akeland hills and I always think o n e o f the

f — F airfie l most impressive o them the giant d . L ike a great rampart is the long and almost

f - straight line o his snow visited summit . F airfield dominates the Ambleside and Rydal neighbourhood and can be seen from Winder

o f L mere and from the Furness side the ake . Then again his power and majesty is set o ff so

Of finely by the peaks Nab Scar , Heron Pike ,

L o w Great Rigg , and High and Pike , whose noble outlin es make the head of Windermere u all L the most beautif l sight in akeland .

o n o f The view the opposite side , Crinkle

B o wfe ll S cawfell Skel ill Crags , and from g and from Windermere (L ake Road) may be wilder and more mystical , but it is not so lovely , so soft , so rich in strong light and shadow by contrast o f F ir l a fie d lli . Y o u dark woods , as and his sate tes would have to go to Argyll or Perthshire to match them .

’ From Bramley s house we follow the side o f

t e a delightful burn , keeping to the track on h 88 WIL D L AKE L AND

o n northern side . There is a track the southern side of the valley also , up from the small Grasmere water reservoir . As we rise the pale green grass L here , as in angdale becomes very noticeable , contrasting splendi dly with the pale red bracken

- and the dark red moor grass . But the pale green is the dominant note ; it fills the glen with effulgent light .

’ L AK E L AND S DIST INCT IVE CHAR M

This wondrous brightness o f light colouring seems to me the di stinctive charm o f the L ake

District mountains . I always believed the

Scottish mountains of Argyll , Perthshire , and Inverness -shi re had every loveliness possible to mountain scenery . When I saw that this wondrous brightness was a common thing in L English akeland I felt that , whatever might ” - r . L and majesty o u wine red moors as R . S . l cal ed them , possessed that was not known to L akeland hills , this effulgence was new to me

h e , m o st o wn . t was , in fact , their Hitherto won de rful lighting I had ever seen was that o f the — Hebrides the Kintyre coast notably , facing the

a Mach ri Atlantic . In Kintyre , especi lly by

GR I SE DAL E R I E L D OL L Y AG GON P E 89 , FAI F D , W IK b anish Mu asdale l , , Keil , Glen Bar , Tayin oan and

B e allo chruadh l , the ight , changeful , fleeting , iri

a — a descent , fills common Object rough boulder ,

- o r a field of cattle , a lonely byre , farm house , loch ,

t o with colours rare and lovely . These it owes the Atlantic . L i ’ akeland cannot give th s magician s touch , but , with its pale greens and pale russets , it can

S fill a whole glen with plendour . In the Hebrides , though fleeting lights and the strange greens and yellows o n the stones and the mosses beggar ll description , the hi s themselves are often , after

o f those months gorgeous purple , dark with the dead heather . Only on the lower slopes we have the deeper russet of the decayed bracken , Often mixed Up with savin (juniper) and making

o n a gorgeous contrast to it; while , the lesser hill tops we have the pale yellow o f the bleached grass .

t o On the whole , however , owing the com

arat ive o f p smallness the area covered by heather , and the bleaching power o f its strong sun and

n L tremendous rai fall , akeland has a lighter colour ing than the Hebrides . As we rise we have an ever-increasing view of F airfield o n our right ; turning our faces west 12 90 WIL D L AKE L AND

o f ward , we get a charming glimpse Coniston

l o n e Water tucked away between the hi ls , and at spot beyond Coniston and the Furness Fells we

get one glimpse o f the sea itself.

ni Again tur ng eastward , we reach the outlying

D o ll wa o n crag which hides from us the y gg Pass ,

and the Helvellyn group .

un i F airfie ld We turn ro d th s crag , and , leaving

o ur at back , pass through the gap , and there we have D o llywaggo n Pike towering above and L ittle G rise dale tarn at o ur feet below . The soil here is very thin , and great crags , black and ml l jagged , lower above us gri y , whi e the same black volcani c rocks lie around in a wild confusion as though they had been hurled from the sur roundi ng heights .

The colouring is low , the bracken short and

t o o scarce , and the grasses bleached and not plentiful . The whole scene is austere and bare the very winds blow with a keenness that impresses o n e with the fact that here Nature is in her puritan mood and has closed with severity that heart

Of so full bounties . The tarn fits well the romantic story attached

k o f D o mh n ull to it for here the ing Cumbria , , GR I SE D AL E R E L D OL L Y WAGGON P E 91 , FAI FI D , IK

” o f that is Donald , after the defeat his troops ” o f by Eadmund the Magnificent , brother the great King Athelstan , came in his flight and , di accor ng to the Annalists , cast into its placid — waters that unlucky symbol o f strife his crown . i 945 Th s happened in the year , eight years after the great fight at Brunanburh in which Athelstan

i o f defeated K ng Constantin Scotland , a very doughty warrior .

L AKE OF T HE GOL DE N CR OWN 93

to mark the place o f an engagement between

D un mail i n , k ng of Cumberland and Edmu d the

945 . Saxon king , in The former was defeated

ll o f hi s o ut and ki ed , the eyes two sons were put

o f by order Edmund , and the territory was given

l k o f . to Ma colm , ing Scotland I think it can be shown quite clearly that this

n D unmail ca not be true , though , that is

l nl D un mail . Dona d , was certai y defeated at Rais The other tradition which makes him cast his

G rise dale crown after the battle , into Tarn , may

quite well be true . From the battle he escaped L to Wales and ruled there . ater he went to Rome where he died thirty years after the famous

fight . We are told that when the last British king

o f Cumbria died Constantin II . the powerful km o f g the united Picts and Scots , was able hi k ” s . ll to get brother , Donald , made ing I wi show that Donald was allied t o the Cumbrian royal house .

Donald was succeeded by his son Owain , who Anlaf was , with Constantin and , defeated at the 93 great battle o f Brunanburh in 7 .

A D . 93 4 At a Congress held in . at Dacre Con

n o f E o h an stanti , king Scotland , and his nephew g 94 WIL D L AKE L AND

o r Eugenius (whi ch is the latinised form of

o r E o h an k o f Owain g ) ing Cumbria , met Athel

stan and did homage to him . Mr . White mentions that there is still a room in Dacre Castle known

as the room of the three kings . Owain is men t io n e d by William o f Malmesbury as nephew o f

Constantin king of Scots in 93 4 . Thus Donald D un m ail was grand-nephew o f o f Constantin II . , and was the son Owain not

f . o . . the son Donal , as is stated by Mr C A

’ h is S he la h Ola Cu aran s Parker in excellent g , f D a f ugh t er. Thus he was of the race o Kenneth

MacAl in o r p who by marriage , descent from the

o f kings the Northern Picts , had united the two kingdoms that made up Scotland north Of the

Forth and Clyde .

’ Edmund s quarrel with D un m ail was that

o f all he , as king Cumbria , which was that remained of Strathclyde the ancient kingdom o f i the Gwynedd , had sided with the Norse ch efs who had been driven o u t by Edmund . Edmund was helped in hi s advance against

o f the Norse by King Malcolm I . Scotland , who was also a descendant o f Kenneth MacAlpin (first king of both Picts and Scots as a un ited whole) and of Constantin II . After the defeat L AKE OF T HE G OL DE N CR OWN 95 o f Donald D un mail and the remnant of

o f the Norse hosts , his kingdom Cumbria became

’ o f Malcolm s share the spoil , the condition being

’ that he should be Edmund s fellow - worker by sea and land . The Chroniclers say the Scots were thus set to keep the Welsh in subjection , but this is not very accurate , for there were Picts also in

Cumbria and some Norsemen settled there . The gain t o the English was peace and the overlordship o f the ancient kingdom o f

Cumbria . ff L egend tells a very di erent story . It was put into ballad form by John Pagen White in the ’sixties as follows

Climb thou t h e rugge d pass and se e e a e e High midst thos mighty mount ins thr , How in the ir ! oint e mbrac e the y hold i Th e me re that hide s h s crown of gold .

The re in that lone and lofty de ll Ke e ps sile nt watch t h e s e ntine l A thousand ye ars hi s lone ly rounds ’ Have trac e d uns e e n that wate r s bounds .

e e t h e a e e His chall ng shocks st rtl d wast , l ns e e h e e Stil a w r d from t hills with hast , AS passing pilgrims come and go e e e From h ights above or val s b low .

L AKE OF T HE GOL DE N CR OWN 97

in syllable Don as is needed for the verse , stead Of falling o n mail as it is e n e made li to do in Eng sh . The word Rais was quite commonly used for a castle o r tower or other building as in

’ ” o ld Stewart s Rais , the name Of the castle

S t o n e rais near Barrhead , and in Northumber land which was probably built at a time when stone buildings were first coming into fashion

n o the Border .

CHAPTER XXII

C K G C MB E R L DUN AN , IN OF U AND

WHY HE WAS SL AI N B Y MAC B E T H

I T will be seen from the pedi gree above that by

o f the ancient Scottish law , the brothers the king

hi s succeeded him first , then sons and their

nl ul ul cousins . O y an ad t co d rule . When a king was crowned hi s Tani st o r successor was

n also chosen . A ki g was deposed for any failure

o r u o r o f o r . in courage hono r , defect mind person

o r . That is , if he lost an eye a limb Hence Edmund is said to have put o ut the eyes o f

’ D un m il s a sons t o ensure against their succession . The law as t o the succession o f brothers was

inl l certa y in every way excel ent . It secured as

ll- king , generally speaking , a fu grown man who i had acted as assistant king (Tan st) , and it saved the country from the thing which brought 99 100 WI L D L AKE L AND disaster to Scotland after the unhappy adoption

o r f — o . part adoption , the feudal system minorities Under the o ld Keltic system (Scottish and Irish) every man carried a marshal ’s baton in his

sporran as it were . Every man could rise from

the ranks . There were no poor , the land belonged

— n o t o r u o f to the clan to the king , to a handf l di d foreigners as it later under feudalism . N O wonder that the Pictish nation was so strong and rule so settled that men Often reigned

for twenty and thirty and forty years . No wonder that when their kinsmen , the Scots , came with newer ideas , more advanced art and scholar

N O ship , they listened to them and accepted . wonder that in the days o f those vigorous early

kings the Kenneths , Malcolms , the Alexanders ,

and Of David and the early Stuarts , Scotland was a most flourishing land in the very districts where

we now have a desert and a wilderness . From the pedi grees 1 it will also be seen that Shakespeare in his immortal tragedy put his money

o n r the w ong horse as it were . Malcolm II .

a great king and soldier , saw that the feudal

system was spreading , and broke the Keltic law by putting forward as his successor the king

1 S ee es 9 and 107 pag 8 . C G OF C MB R L 101 DUN AN , KIN U E AND o f Cumberland (or rather , of all Strathclyde) his I grandson Duncan . , who bears in the play the

e o f fin title the Gentle Duncan . Thus the wrongdoer was not MacB e t h who was support ing as he was bound to do the claims o f L ulach

o f . his stepson , grandson King Kenneth III — f f 997 1 004 o . ( ) son Du f, son of Malcolm I

W T E R ST Y HE AD G ILL ( BOR R OWDAL E T O AS T WA ) T HE L ASCE L L E S FAMIL Y 105

- - o f great great grandson Orm , married Joan de

ls L asce .

Before 1 3 44 L asce lls of E scryk in Yorkshire made an alliance with the heiress o f the other branch of the Westmorland family o f de Barbon who had held the manor o f Barbon fo r some two hundred years and the Barbon estate passed to

ll o f L asce s. This Barbon was a descendant Sir

o f e wh o Richard , elder brother Gilb rt de Barbon l ’ married Joan de Rosgil . Gilbert s immediate descendants held land in Yorkshire and William

B e rb urn de held land , probably from the Priory , 1 3 27 at Warmington in Warwickshire in , when the king had made Thomas de Mult o n head o f the French monks there owing t o the war with

Mult o n was o f France . De also a descendant

ick G o spat r . Thomas Barbon later held land at

t o Whitacre . Dr . Brabourne , secretary Bishop

ux n J o who attended Charles I . in the last tragic

t h e o f scene , came from same branch the West

morland stock , which is represented by the descendants of B utler G re at re x (o f Anchorage) who was Commandant at Cuxhaven during the

French wars . His adventures were told in the novel Maurice D rummore the Memoran da of a

Marin e O cer li fi , a bril ant and amusing book 14

CHAPTER XXIV

T HI R L LI E R E AN D B L E N CAT HAR A

With toil t h e King his way pursue d ’ e T e e e B y lov ly hr lk ld s wast and wood, Till on his cours e oblique ly shon e

e e . Th narrow vall y of St John , t h e e e D own sloping to w st rn sky , e e lie Wh e re linge ring sunb ams lov to .

’ ' C TT B ridal o T riermazn S O S f .

KE SWI CK is o n e of the most easily approached

Of L o n e o f the ake District towns , and the best centres for those who would see the great hills o n the north edge o f the mountain di strict and also on the western edge . Unlike Ambleside and Grasmere , which would be ruined by a railway running through that marvellous Winder

- - - o f mere Ambleside Rydal Grasmere string valleys ,

Keswi ck has a plain side to her face . She smiles only on one cheek , and the railway line from Penrith comes along that side by the compara t ive ly humble region of Penruddock and T h re l 108 T HI RL ME R E AND B L E NCAT HAR A 109

di l keld , which lies at the foot Of the splen d hil

- B le n cat h ar wi th the Welsh Keltic name a. True it has been vulgarised in a language far inferior

o f in sonorous sounds , far less appreciative poetic — fitness into Saddleback thin k o fthe anti - climax ! — B le n cat h ara that is the tongue shaped hi ll 1 o f o f dl . the fort , not the sad e Though there are higher hills it is not surpassed in the matter of its

S di plen d presence anywhere in the district , not

B o wfe ll o r even by Crinkle Crags , Great Gable , ll o r the S cawfe giants . But we must not forget that when we have passed through the Windermere to Grasmere

D un m ail valleys and have reached Rais , there is still a wonderful feast in store for us o n o u r way to Keswick because we have not only a series o f views of B le n cat h ara o n many of his fronts but we have one o f the loveliest and quite the highest Of the English lakes to pass . It was Of course a monstrous exaggeration t o say that the dammmg up o f lovely Thirlmere by the Manchester Corporation to Obtain water for

o f their citizens , did not destroy any the beauty o f the lake . The truth is the great bare , plain ,

1 Cat harpron ounced Cach -ir in Gae lic an d wit h t h e t h soun d in We lsh

T HIR L ME R E AND B LE NCAT HAR A 111 the banks lie gigantic boulders torn from it by

n o w storms , though these are partly under water like the bridge and the house which stood below .

All these things we have about us . The great things on the rest Of the road are the many

B l n c h r glimpses Of e at a a. Memories are awakened at T rie rm ain where in his B ridal of T riermain Sir Walter Scott describes the castle near T h irlspo t

B ut t h e e , midmost of val , a mound e r e e Aros with ai y turr ts crown d, ’ B e e - uttr ss , and rampir s circling bound, An d mighty ke e p and towe r ; ’ S e e m e d some prim e val giant s hand ’ Th e e e l e castl s massiv wal s had plann d, A ponde rous bulwark to wi thstand ’ N e Ambitious imrod s pow r .

’ And when at last we meet the road to St . John s

- Vale and Threlkeld , and we turn to the north west

o f B le n cat h ara re do min round the shoulder , his p ating place in the landscape is taken by that — other wide -spreading monster Skiddaw and the

Borrowdale Fells . Presently we get sight o f

Derwentwater , as we descend from these heights

o ld o f towards the beautiful town Keswick . But any o n e who wants to see the whole o f Derwent water can cross the fell at Armb o t h and make for

Wat e n dlat h and Borrowdale . CHAPTER XXV

K E SWICK T OWN

I T would be difficult to find a more favoured town l than Keswick . It lies amongst the great hil s

o f o f at the feet one of the very highest them , 4 3 05 . towering to feet It is thus , higher than its romantically named and more magnificent neigh

B le n cat h ara 284 7 . bour , , which boasts only feet Skiddaw pushes out into the lo w country o n the

o f an d edge the Bassenthwaite valley is , therefore , here seen to great advantage from many points . Through Keswick again runs the famed and lovely river the Greta . Though so close to the

' mountains and o n e o f the best points fo r reaching the hills Of the S cawfe ll group Keswick town is o n i ll a raised platform l ke Windermere vi age , as distinguished from Bowness and Ambleside . This certainly gives the advantage o f light and bright ness to both places , yet makes them colder when 1 12

KE SWICK T OWN the winds blow down from the snow - covered mountains to the north and east and west . The town itself is very interesting and the town hall standing in the middle o f the road gives a

- delightful old world touch t o the whole place . Keswick is lucky in another sense it has had generous citizens whose gifts o f the land o n both sides of its chief avenue have made this part o f Keswick the most beautiful bit Of road in the town and it will keep the country in the

o f very centre Keswick for all time , so that it can never be divorced from nature . The town of Windermere lost an Opportunity o f buying a piece Of land in its very centre like d this some years ago and to ay , as I have pointed o ut o o r , Ambleside Urban Council has a great pp t u n it y Ofimmortalising itself by begging from the owner the pretty piece o f garden lying in the

’ o f centre the town , at the back Of the Q ueen s

o n Hotel , and bordered by Compston Road the other side . Before we leave the town -hall and the interest

o n e ing shops , among them in which the Keswick Arts and Crafts Guild S how and sell their brass and other work , it should be remembered that at the town -hall there is a model in relief o f the 15 1 14 WIL D L AKE L AND

L . in ake District It was made by Mr . Fl toft and

was the labour of many years . I have not seen it but I know the excellent L — model in Kendal Public ibrary which , by the

u i way , is f ll of good th ngs and these are made very accessible by really sane catalogues—and I know

many library catalogues that are by no means sane . ll Well , whenever I am puzzled to know what hi it was I saw say from G arb urn Pass o r any other point

o ut I go and have it with the model at Kendal . This reminds me that there is a library at

al Keswick which was left by Mr . Marsh l . I believe it has been amalgamated with the Kelsick Tru st L ibrary as has been done in the case Of

fin e L the Armit ibrary at Ambleside , of which

Mr . Herbert Bell is the librarian . Keswick is the only L akeland town I know

— o f in which there are Old book shops . In some these I have seen some very good books o n the mi di strict containing ad rable pictures .

L AK E COUNT R Y IL L UST R AT OR S

L ill Yes , akeland has been very well ustrated and l it ought to be kind to artists , for men like Wi liam

Green , Farington , Allon , J . B . Pyne and Ibbetson , KE SWICK T OWN

o u r dr . rank among best aughtsmen Indeed , in black and white I do n o t think we will ever see

i Of their l ke again . None these men were natives

o f L ill the district . ess known as an ustrator L was a great ancastrian , who was a superb colourist and also a splendi d black - and - white artist at a time when British art was falling back i l i into the terribly l tera , un maginative manner

which preceded Turner , Constable and other great

S men . I refer to Birket Foster whose plendid

’ illustrations in my old 1 87 9 copy o f B lack s G uide I rank amongst the best and most suggestive o f

o f l the wonder , the glamour these hil s . L ook at his Ullswater with the fine sky

’ scape in which he excelled ; his Friar s Crag , ” ni L his Co ston ake , his Grasmere both

unlike any other picture Of these two last places . ” Then take his Derwentwater from Ferry Crag , ” l G o wb arro w Ho n ist e r his Ul swater from , his ” Crag and Airey Force . Green and Farington (as in his Crummock hi Water sometimes , perhaps , overdo the t ng , but

’ in Birket Foster s pictures there is no straining , no excess o f subject though it is a common fault

o u h in the others . He gives y a meal t at will

feed and inspire n o t gorge you .

KE SWICK AND T HE DE R WE NT WAT E R S 1 17 anger o f Heaven at the execution o f so virtuous a man . The estates o f the family near Keswick and at

Dilston and Alston Moor , also in Cumberland , were confiscated and given to Greenwich Hospital . Of these estates the Keswick property was bought l by Mr . John Marshall and remains in his fami y . In later times Keswick has had other celebrities

o f and not the least these was Robert Southey , who ranks amongst the best writers o f prose in the language . In his day he was still more famous as a poet but the rhymed couplet in which he and Wordsworth and Scott wrote very long

o f di poems is to most us too te ou s to follow . But Southey was n o t more tedious than Words

fo r worth very Often becomes , instance in his

o r Waggoner , what could be less poetical more prosaic

And se e b e yond t h e hamle t small Th e e e T e e ruin d tow rs of hr lk ld hall , L urking in a doub le shade B y tre e s and linge ring shadows made ’ T e e B le ncat h ara s e e e h r at rugg d f t, Sir L anc e lot gave a safe re tre at

' T o nob le Ch flo rd from annoy

Conc e ale d t h e p e rs e cute d b o y .

’ Southey s great book T h e L ife of 1 18 WIL D L AKE L AND remains one o f o ur best biographi es and though we may thin k less o f his poetry to - day the more we know of him the more we thin k o f him as a

man . His presence for forty years in Keswick ,

ni his freedom from bumptiousness , va ty and

bombast , and his generally kind and noble

character , have left a fragrance behind among the

fields and meadows he frequented . He is buried in the graveyard of the ancient

o f f and historic church Crosthwaite , hal a mile

o f beyond the town . The name the Church takes us back to the days when the Scottish L di monks from Iona , and later from in sfarne brought light and high ideals to the people o f di Cumbria , and indeed to stricts much further

K e n t i e rn hi s . south . St . g (or by pet name St

Bl un o o f . g ) was a friend and relation St Columba ,

the patron saint o f all Highlanders . Both

D alriada belonged to the royal family Of , who ruled over Argyll and the Southern Hebrides and later amalgamated with the Picts their kins

men , and ruled over all Scotland . CHAPTER XXVII

AN OL D -T IME C HUR C H

B E S IDE S the memorial to Southey in the grave

r a yard , inside the chu ch there is recumbent L statue Of him by ough , a sculptor well known in his day . In the church is also a memorial to

o f o f 1 5 97 the Earl Derwentwater and his wife . The monument consists of a knight in armour and a lady . The whole is of bronze . The church was restored in the ’seventies by hi Sir Gilbert Scott who , though a fine arc tect , restored too much in very many cases , Chester

Cathedral for instance . Before the restoration o f di o n the buil ng , it was used week days as a meat market and the pews were converted into stalls by the butchers . Pigs were also penned in the church .

The situation amongst the fat , lush meadows

di u with the surroun ng hills , and the beautif l 1 19

AN OL D -T IME CHUR CH 121 have allowed new and Often hard and poor

F o r nl in co n tracery to be used . instance the o y

’ gruo u s and unsatisfactory thing about G rasm e re s delightful Old church is the new window o n the left hand as you enter the building .

From Crosthwaite we pass Greta Hall , the home of Southey , near Greta Bridge . There he lived for some forty years . After his death the house was bought by a member o f the Old

Yorkshire family of Rothery who lived in it . The lead pencil industry is still earn ed on in Keswick near which town plumbago o r black

— at lead was first discovered Seathwaite , which is , by the way , with Sty Head Pass the wettest place

I n . all Britain . The mines here are now closed After two centuries their place was taken by the more famous Borrowdale mines which are still worked . On the Borrowdale Road along the shore o f Derwentwater we pass the grandly named waterfall

L S of odore . There is an approach to it at the ide f O the hotel . The name haunted me long before

I saw the fall , but , like most people I was dis

n o t r appointed , for it had mo e water in it than

- would make a decent shower bath . Stock Gill

ni Force at Ambleside is infi tely finer , and when 16

CHAPTER XXVIII

B IR D L I FE I N L AK E L AND

I N the Rydal and Ambleside Valley there are great numbers o f birds ; the finches are perhaps the most famili ar but the robin is the most dl frien y . At your house door as soon as he gets to know you are a member of the family he will come to your feet almost .

Indeed , in Ambleside Churchyard the sexton ,

Mr . Satterthwaite , who , by the way , is an

o n di authority the Westmorland alect , has got a

o f little robin who watches him , from the top a i tombstone near by , while he is d gging , and who will fly down the new-made grave to get a certain worm . One winter morning Mr . Satterthwaite put a few crumbs on his shoulders and the robin hi at once flew up and ate them off s back . In the store -house un der the tower another robin makes i his home and comes daily to be fed . The starl ng is also a favourite in the neighbourhood and is almost as tame as the robin . He can be heard 123 124 WIL D L AKE L AND imitating the crowing o f the cock and the d uck ing o f the hens when o n e o f them has laid an

. ll egg In fact , there is no sound the starling wi not imitate . He will come quite near the house and from a branch in the early morning you can hear his guttural sounds so full o f suggestion of peace and satisfaction . He is not exactly a singer but he has a very low and pretty note for m all that . If you get the sun o n hi so that you can see his graceful shape and the lovely sheen o n his green feathers , delicately spotted with

o u l grey , y wil agree that he is almost as beautiful as the kingfisher in plumage and more graceful in shape because the head o f the kin gfisher is

o f rather large for his size , while that the starling is beautifully proportioned . Branching o ff the Ambleside Glen is the equally lovely B rat h ay Valley with its S plendi d cliffs and woods and its leafy stream . At Skel

u n with , two miles p, I have seen the ki gfisher

- watching for his prey . In the Ambleside Rydal ll Va ey I have seen the buzzard far up aloft , and wild swans in March flying far overhead . In Scandale o n the high groun d I have heard either the wheat - ear o r the stone -chat whose notes are similar . CHAPTER XXIX

S OME T HING AB OUT T HE SWAN

R E A F I ND some time ago , suggested to me , that the decrease in the number o f trout in L akeland streams was not due to the depredations o f

t o human poachers , as has been stated , but the fact that sea-birds have learnt to come much further inland than formerly , and now invade the lakes and their tributaries in great numbers . L L ater a writer in a ake District newspaper ,

o f counted a company birds to the number , I

- think , of sixty seven , including swans , cygnets , L and seagulls , flying over the ake District , a

’ t o fact that seemed support my friend s view .

in The swans which frequent Windermere , ll ” cluding that notorious patriarch , Bi , and

o f many generations his descendants , and the ple n di d birds which surround the prow o f the steamer at Bowness in summer time , are among 125

SOME T HING AB OUT T HE SWAN 127

L confined to the ake District . The West High

o f lands Scotland in the north , and in the south the river Thames are the great homes o f the

British swan .

o n e o f Indeed , the most picturesque things in connection with the decidedly picturesque L ondon

t wo City Guilds is the fact that of them , the

ul Vintners and the Dyers , sho d have figured in history for certainly over 3 80 years as owners and

f - preservers Of this most beautiful o water fowls .

T HE B E L L S OF OUS E L E Y Then ye trout worshippers who revere still

’ more wealth and lineage , look at the swan s pedi gree ! The swan is what is called a royal bird and has been the most -cared -for o f English di L fowls . Accor ng to the Swan aws , which are

r o f ve y numerous , it alone all English birds can ” hi h o w be an estray . T nk stylish that must ! be A law Of Edward IV . provides further

o f that no person other than the son the king , not even an O . B . E may possess a swan except f he holds lands to the value o five merks . It was o n e o f the prerogatives o f the Crown that any swan found unmarked upon the seas o r rivers 128 WI L D L AKE L AND o f England belonged to the Crown , and no person was allowed to have a swan mark without he had

o f received a grant the privilege from the Crown .

’ - The marks were granted by the king s swan herd , f who was an important O ficer , holding authority over the entire kingdom . These laws are still in force , but , of course , any person can keep swans upon private lakes and unnavigable streams . On the river Thames the only persons possessing the privilege are the two companies named ; to them and His Majesty the King , belong all the swans between L ondon and Henley . The centre o f the swan neighbourhood is the ” l l o f Ou se le Old inn cal ed The Bel s y , a name deliciously suggestive of the sound o f the great ” o f stream lapsing along past villages , and a lair among the reeds and rushes . Here , and at

’ nl L He ey , Sunbury , Boulter s ock , Cookham ,

Q uerry Wood , Woodburn Ferry , Bray Oak , and up many of the small backwaters in the neigh b o u rh o o d . , the birds may best be seen

T HE SWAN VOYAG E

? The privilege Of keeping swans on the Thames has been enjoyed by the Vintners and Dyers from

SOME T HING AB OUT T HE SWAN 129

l remote times , for in the ear iest written record 1 5 0 ( 9) the custom is familiarly referred to . The

’ next record in the annals o fthe Vintners Company 1 609 ffi occurs in , when swan O cers are referred to

as having been appointed . It has always been the duty o f the youngest Of the three wardens o f the

o f Company to take charge the swans , and he is thence called the Swan Warden His duty

n is to inspect the broods an ually , and to direct ” F o r the swan marker . this purpose he is ’ l n - ca led upon every year by the Ki g s Swan herd , ” o r t o . marker , make the swan voyage On the last Monday of July the King ’s representative meets the wardens o fthe two other owners , and they then , accompanied by members o f the companies , and the swan herdsmen , start from Southwark Bridge o n their voyage up

Thames . This practice may possibly have been the origin o f the name o f the familiar Old

Swan Pier and Wharf. The object o f this pleasant and romantic cruise is to pinion and mark the young cygnets , now hi some two months Old . T s last is done by

’ cutting the owner s mark o n the upper beak o f

’ each bird . The king s birds are marked with a

’ o f o n e G , those the Dyers Company with 17 130 WIL D L AKE L AND

o f nick , and those the Vintners with two nicks . This system Of ni cking gave rise to the well known tavern sign which has been corrupted into

The Swan with Two Necks .

T HE SWAN FR OM A MAT R IMONIAL POINT OF VIE W There is one other point Of view from which the swan deserves consideration in these days l l when Mr . Justice Dar ing has been bewai ing the fact that every other man o r woman yo u meet

fo r is now going in divorce proceedings . The character given by observers o f the swan at home is interesting and reassuring in this i age when even Cupid is being American sed . Handsome is as handsome does is a good i proverb , but it detracts noth ng from the swan , for the cob (an excellent name for a bread

i ul w nner) is loyal as well as beautif , being most

o r a attentive and faithful to the pen , fem le bird , and careful of the young . He is also courageous in defence of his ain fireside , and will chase invaders o f hi s privacy for a mile and then

’ offer fight , prepared like Bret Harte s Mr .

L o n - Jones , ycurgus B rivals twenty three to SOME T HING AB OUT THE SWAN 13 1

’ prove the marriage sanctity . The female bird s

i — o f fam liar name suggestive Penelope , the most constant of wives , is also not misapplied , for she

fu ff is equally faith l and a ectionate , and the birds l are believed to pair for ife , so may be said to possess the final mark of civilisation

T HE Y AR E MONO GAMIST S

l fre and as they ive for some fifty years , may di quently celebrate their golden wed ngs . So it is at least satisfactory t o know that the most honoured of water -birds is worthy o f the

o f o f praise the poets of all ages , and the pencil o f o ur o wn L L painter , ord eighton , who intro du ce d it so admirably into his Odalisque as if as a monogamistic protest agam st the manners o f the seraglio . Besides the excellent qualities which the bird actually possesses , the ancient Greeks attributed to it the power Of song , the legend being that it ll exercised that gift especia y when dying . The swan they knew belonged to the S pecies known ” to us as the whooper , which , though very ” o ur similar to mute swan in other respects ,

nl - has , u ike it , a very musical and trumpet like note . From the old Greek fable we have come

CHAPTER XXX

T HE FAIR Y PR INC E SS

BL E A TAR N AND T HE L ANG DAL E S

L I K E the Princess in the Fairy tale Blea Tarn di ffi is set high up , aloof, surrounded by culties

for those who would approach . The soft beauty Of the scenery round Amble side di sappears at the charming hamlet o f Skelwith where you turn up by Skelwith Force towards the

Coniston road . l The country assumes a rougher , wi der , more l austere aspect . We climb up unti we reach a

- o n . rather narrow road , the right hand side If you happen to be a cyclist o ut o f practice like

myself, you look with some respect if not awe at the hairpin bend which forms the first turn in

Y o u l the road . take it gingerly til you reach the straight piece which leads through the

o ld- l L L delightful world vil age of ittle angdale . 133 134 WI L D L AKE L AND

L angdale Post Office by the way , was once an

I nn - l . Passing the well bui t school you reach the road whi ch runs for a time parallel with the L L l ittle angdale Valley . Down below ies the

’ i o n e fine tarn and the qua nt Slater s bridge , with or two very o ld houses opposite o n the T ilb e r thwaite Coniston side . We soon leave this scene and come up under o n e of the shoulders o f the

l l h rl m great hil ca led We at e a . The scene has now altered from the wild but wooded L ittle L angdale valley we have reached a region o f bare mountains topped with black and splintered crags . The unexpected thing is

a u o f th t all the valley is f ll light , despite the a ik two black , jagged det ched rocks which , l e

o f castles the Arabian Nights , stand at each

o f o f end the glen , and the black upper ridge We at h e rlam whi ch fills up all this side Of the ll va ey . The cause of this sense of light is that the bottom of the glen is covered with a close grass l l of a pa e green , a ighter colour than that we know ull l as sage green . A d apple green perhaps wou d better describe it ; and among the grass and all around on the fell Opposite , save at the top , lie great broad patches o fdead bracken o fa peculiarly

- low and delicate rose pink colour . T HE FAIR Y PR INCE SS 135

The whole place is filled with the splendour o f it . The sharp contrast Of the slopes o n which the heather has become quite black of the dark cliffs and o fthe scattered pines and yew trees near

r - the Old and solita y farm house below, add greatly to this sense o flight and warmth . I have watched many wonderful effects among the Scottish hills but I do not remember any thing like this combination o f soft tones o f

colour in winter . Possibly the wet summer may have washed the harsher hues o ut o f the bracken and have thus turned its russet almost

to rose . The road now runs downhill to a gate where

o f commences a long uphill walk . The sides the l 1 hil s are here covered with juniper , called savin

in the local tongue . These bushes are a great

b o f o n oon from the picturesque point view ,

hills so thinly covered with soil . They add t o o beauty by contrast with the bleached green o f the

grass Of which I have spoken . At the top of the rise we reach another gate h ere we are o n the summit and get a grand view

o f L o f the angdale Pikes to the north , and the long side o f B laikrigg filling up the side o f the

T HE FAIR Y PR INCE SS 137 of two thousand feet up which is much more di f rarefied , and she is in f erent of ornament . She

t o o dwells among the highest peaks , under nobly l named Helvel yn ; but for beauty and richness , daintiness and grace she cannot compare with

Blea Tarn .

B LE A ‘ T AR N AND I T S L IT E R AR Y ME MOR IE S 139 haunts these mountain regions in search o f the carcases of the sheep that die o r get crag-fast and exhausted on the fells . An d now we cross the grass again to the track at the entrance gate and get a new view to the

- kl o fB laikri westward , of the snow sprin ed crags gg f stretching along the Opposite side o the valley . While behind it on the north we see the fine

’ outline o f the Pike 0 E li sco which offers its front against the opposing mass of L angdale

Pikes lying on the other side of the valley .

B L E A TAR N COTT AG E

We have reached the famous Blea Tarn Cottage where dwelt t h e Solitary described in The ” Excursion . It is the only house in the glen and appears to be practically unaltered since Words ’ ni worth s time . Wordsworth and his compa on had their meal in the room o n the floor above . To - day the oak-beamed kitchen hun g with great

Of - store bacon is the tea room . Wordsworth describes the scene

e e All at onc , b hold B e e e e e e n ath our f t, a littl lowly val , e e t li t e A lowly val , and y up f d high Among t h e mountains e ve n as if t h e spo t 140 WI L D L AKE L AND

Had b e e n from e lde st tim e by wish of the irs e b e t h e So plac d , to shut out from all world

With rocks e ncompasse d

e e t h e A liquid pool that glitt r d in sun , An n e e e o n e e e d o bar dw lling abod , no mor e e e h e e It s m d t e hom of pov rty and toil , T t h e e e e e e hough not of want littl fi lds , mad gr n B r e y husband y of many thrifty y ars ,

Paid che e rful tribute to t h e moorland hous e .

! e e e e e e Ah what a sw t r c ss , thought I , is h r Instantly throwing down my limbs at e as e — Upon a b e d of h e ath full many a spot Ofhidde n be auty have I chanc e d to e spy A t h e e e o n e e mong mountains , n v r lik this S O n e e e e e e lo som and so p rf ctly s cur .

In the cottage Wordsworth describes the dainties which overspread the board oaten

o f bread , curd , cheese , and cream and cakes butter curiously embossed .

B utte r that had imbib e d from m e adow-flo we rs e h ue e l e e A gold n , d icat as th ir own e e e Faintly r fle ct d in a ling ring stre am .

No r lacke d Our e e e tabl , small parad of gard n fruits , - h e e And whortle b e rri e s from t mountain sid .

Th e tea Miss Weir , the present hostess at

Blea Tarn Cottage , put before us was not less B LE A T AR N AND I T S L IT E R AR Y ME MOR IE S 141

o f ample . Indeed it included a number the very good cakes common amongst the excellent cooks o f the L ake District and a pound cake

o f worthy Bond Street . No less hospitable than the hostess was the big sheep dog who had a snug bed by the great fire . From the cottage the mountains to be seen o n t o B laikri the left the west are gg , Great End , B ll ’ o wfe 0 E . , Shelter Crags and Pike lisco The L angdale Pikes are visible o n the right and to the south-west lie We t h e rlam and the Coniston group . The journey back to Ambleside through Great L a ngdale is easy . After a long descent down the — very loose Blea Tarn Road a road quite impo s — sible to cycles there is one o f the best and least hilly roads in the L ake District through Chapel

Cla e rs at e Stile and pp g to Ambleside .

L AKE L AND ’S WIL D ANI MAL S 143 that he has a great partiality for a di et consisting

o f ul largely poultry , there is no doubt that he wo d

o f have become a very respectable member society . Of course I know that other persons have a par t ialit ul — y for po try city aldermen notably , but that

’ fact , while it proves the fox s good taste and di hi s scrimination , seals doom . There cannot

o ld be two kings in Brentford , as the proverb l has it , nor can a riva for the good things of L e ade n h all Market be tolerated at the Mansion

House . Many good stories are told in which the fox has been too much fo r the do g and also t o o much for the man . Indeed , the general Opinion among fo x - hunting men in the L ake District is that it is the combination Of the man and the dog that is too much for him . Were it not for the human h unter it is probable that very many o f the thirty-five foxes which have been killed thi s season (April 1 921 ) would still be enjoying the best poultry both for supper and fo r breakfast . Indeed o n e might go a little further and say that fleet and brave and intelli gent as the Fell hound is , if he were no bigger than the fox and fought him alone over hill and dale instead o f in 144 WIL D L AKE L AND

l packs , the fox wou d every time prove the better f man o the two . In short if he had been as tamable as the dog he would have attained high rank in the social

scale . One writer says that the superior condition o f the hounds over that Of the fox is the chi ef factor in enabling them to bring their quarry w do n .

This is , I think , quite wrong . Food for the body is very important , but food for the mind is l more so in a race over the fel s . The fox is better educated . He knows every nook and corner , h every ledge , every crag , and he has learnt t ings

’ the dogs don t know . Then the fox o f the fells can drop a di stance o f thirty to forty feet without serious injury and he can cli mb up steep rocks where no hound can hl follow . On rough ground he is thoroug y at home , and he can jump the highest fences though

o ut Mr . Richard Clapham points he always does

’ it sideways . I don t care how he does it ; no i doubt he be ng always on the defensive , has learnt things about hunting and being hunted that are not known even to my friend Mr . W . C . Skelton who has told us so much about it in his book

L AKE L AND ’S WIL D ANI MAL S 145 o n the Coniston Hunt whi ch is now being i publ shed .

T HE L AK E L AND FE L L PONY

The Fell Pony o f the L ake District is not o f o ut native origin . The native breed has died ;

n 1 4 it was described by Pri gle who wrote in 7 9 . He says the Westmorland horses were small and n o t exceeding 1 41 hands and though said to be hardy , were neither strong nor handsome . The present Fell pony is a descendant o f the

l o f Ga loway Southern Scotland , whose qualities ,

S Pringle says , were peed , stoutness and sure footedn ess over very rugged and mountainous ” country . They were rather under 1 4 hands in height and were essentially weight - carrying ” 1 l ponies , very powerful and compact in bui d . The legs o f the Fell pony o f to -day have more bone than had the Old native Westmorland breed ,

- . 1 899 so says Mr Wingate Saul ( ) quoted in Mr .

’ G arn F . W . e t t s excellent book o n Westmorland

Agriculture . The Galloway rather than the Westmorland pony o f the light type resembling those I have

1 Y o uatt , 183 1 . 146 WIL D L AKE L AND

l e seen in the New Forest , must certain y have b en

o l - the beast used by the d moss trooper . In

Sweet Heather a fine animal with a very small , pretty and intelli gent head and powerful neck

ul o f and sho ders we have , I suggest , the kind beast a Borderer would need to carry himself and his plunder over long di stances . CHAPTER XXXI II

HUNT I NG ON L AK E L AND HIL L S

HUNT ING in the L ake Country di ffers in very many respects from hunting in the Midlands L and the South . In the ake District the hunt lies over the hills many o f which reach to 2000

2600 r feet some to feet o more . From this it will be seen that the word sport in the Border counties means something quite f dif erent and distinct . It is much more primitive , depends less on artificial aids , and the horse which gallops in the Midlands after the fox over meadows and ploughed fields and jumps five

n o t . barred gates and waterways , is in the picture The grand scarlet hunting coat is only seen o n the huntsman , and the charming young lady who constantly needed rescuing from sunk roads and quagmires and fallen steeds and who always

ul married her rescuer , wo d never have entered into 147

HUNT ING ON L AKE L AND HIL L S 149

F o r strong men it is the finest sport yo u could — have the finest sport for every o n e but the fox .

L o n In akeland the hunt is thus foot , and , dl nee ess to say is Often very hard going . The fo x t o o is followed right up to the tops o fthe hills

r amongst rocks and crags . It is not uncommon fo

o n t o a dog in his excitement , to follow reynard some ledge o f rock and to roll with him down to the stony places below and to return no more

o f to his mates at the kennels Patterdale , Amble

o r side , wherever he comes from . CHAPTER XXXIV

T HE FE L L HOUND AN D HI S R I V AL S

T HE hound used for fox-hunting in L akeland is a breed quite apart from the hound Of the Peterborough type which is used in the dl 22 Mi ands . His height is 1 inches at most , somewhat smaller than the southern type and he is altogether a tougher customer . He will work o n eight days a fortni ght and will last up to his tenth season in full work . He will

u o n work over much harder , rougher gro nd the fells and mountains . His whole life indeed , is a much harder one than that of his rival , and , important point , he is very fast , much more so than the southern hound . Despite all these merits the hardy northerner l li fetches on y the small sum of sixty shil ngs while ,

di . accor ng to Mr Clapham , the Warwickshire hound will fetch ninety pounds and the Radnor shire twenty pounds . T HE FE L L HOUND AND HI S R I VAL S 15 1

There is o n e other interesting di fference

n between the se two types . The southern hou ds have cat feet while the northern Fell h ounds have hare feet . I have found the Fell hound in private life as friendly as a beagle than whi ch no dog is more u ll loving . The puppies are delightf l and as fu of fun as kittens . The southern hound has a tendency to be sometimes serious and a little bit di i surly . The Older dogs of both sorts are gn fied .

b - One day in an Ambleside y path I saw a huge ,

l n bony , powerfu Old hou d worrying a bone when o u t rushed a very fierce and quarrelsome grey hound which lived o n the spot and considered the

’ hi s approach to my den and master s , as within his

o f S phere influence .

n The greyhound , a splendid beast , bou ded with a fierce growl at the o ld dog as though he

o ld would eat him . The boy raised hi s head an

o r o n inch two , keeping his paw the bone and for a moment eyed his rival , who catching one glint

’ from the o ld dog s eye crouched back from his outstretched front paws and then slunk home across the green . Here was dignity and power i and ntelligence . A quarrelsome dog would have gone for the greyhound but the Fell hound is

CHAPTER XXXV

S HE E P -D OG T R IAL S

T HE PR E T T IE ST L AK E L AND S P O R T

Y E T another L ake District sport and an interesting L one . It is not , however as distinctively akeland

- as the Hound Trail , for in many sheep farming

- di stricts it is common . I refer to the Sheep dog

Trials , more interesting to the spectator than

l Ho ? even the Hound Trai . w is it done Three

o f sheep are taken out a field for each competition .

’ The man takes his stand near the judge s box , wearing a leash round o n e arm so that he cannot advance towards his dog . From his stand he directs the do g who has to drive the three sheep dl between two flags through hur es , and from the

do hurdles to the pen . The master directs his g

o r o r l by whistling waving his arms by hal ooing ,

r o by all three . At the pen he leaves his stand and goes forward to help his dog to drive the sheep into the pen through its narrow entrance . This is 153 20

SHE E P -D OG T R IAL S 155

years . She was admirably engineered by her i master , who took everyth ng quietly , never , as

o r they say in golf, pressing either his dog ik his sheep . They went through l e a piece of

t wo machinery . At the pen sheep entered , but

i Off the th rd went at a right angle , and stood dl by the entrance outside the pen . Mr . Han ey then showed again hi s knowledge Of sheep nature — which is very like human nature in this , that

it follows the mob . He made no excited rush , di d not wave hi s arms like a semaphore ; he quietly moved away from the entrance where the

o f sheep stood hesitating , to the opposite side

the pen . The sheep , thus left , determined that — it could not face the world alone so few have pluck to do that— it walked quietly in among its pals The crowd cheered : they knew that this

time the man had proved wiser even than hi s dog . The sheep almost enjoyed it ; they were never once frightened : whereas it must be admitted that in most cases they were a good deal chi vvied

All o f about . these momentous decisions sheep

42 . and shepherd took only 7 min . sec It is satisfactory to know that the sheep only once go through this performance ; a new set o f sheep must be taken each time under the rules . CHAPTER XXXVI

T HE HOUND T R AIL

WHAT is a Hound Trail ? Few people outside

the L ake District could answer that question .

It is o n e of the sports peculiar to Wild L akeland . A drag or trail is laid on the hills by two men known as trail layers who must be very i familiar with the d strict . The drag consists of a bag steeped in o il o f aniseed which the men

o f carry . One the men starts from the most di stant point which is to be reached by the

- hounds the other starts from the winning post . The drag is laid every quarter o f a mile and is

pressed to the earth with the foot .

The starter marshals the dogs , who are tre

m e n do u sl o n e o f y keen to get away ; indeed , the pleasant things about the hun t is to see their

eagerness and to hear them . They disappear , leaping walls— the grey stane dykes or other 156 T HE HOUND T R AIL 157

di r obstacles in splen d style , and streaming th ough the bracken and the heather ; now out Of sight , now flashing into the Open o n the hill - side a thousand feet up . The crowd waits expectant in the meadow far

o n t o below and , when the dogs get the homeward

o n e o ut trail and flash after another , far apart into

in t e n se an d the Open , the excitement is the shrieks / and whistling o f the owners o f the competing

f r dogs make the welkin ring . The time o the

-fi e round averages about twenty v minutes . The dogs are as full o f excitement as their l masters and thorough y enjoy themselves . A Hound Trail is probably the most popular sport in L akeland . No athletic meeting o r agricultural

’ S o r society s how football association sports , is considered complete without a Houn d Trail . The prizes range from about £5 fo r the winner and

£3 £2 -u do and for the runners p. A good g can bring in a substantial sum to his owner in a season . The hound used is lighter than the foxhound i and faster . They are tra ned by their owners or

- by members of families noted as dog trainers . The men walk them and the hounds live in

o f their homes and , having this great advantage

dl . family life , are remarkably clever and frien y

CHAPTER XXXVII

’ L AK E L AND S HAUNT ING ME MOR IE S

FR OM G rise dale Tarn the ascent up D o llywaggo n

o n o f Pike to Helvellyn which it forms part ,

t o can be made . It may not be the easiest way reach Helvellyn but it is perhaps the most full

Of interest because , in the route we get the home l of Frank Bramley , the fine ascent up the shou der

o f - Seat Sandal (if we take the left hand footpath) , and the fine views o f Coniston L ake and of the

o f sea at Morecambe . We also get a view Fair fie ld which cannot be obtained from any other f place and a new view o Stone Arthur . The hause o r narrow pass through which we reach the Tarn is interesting , as , once through it , the world in which we have been sojourning— the — Ambleside -Rydal- Grasmere world is quite shut o ut Ul l and the lswater and eastern hil s generally ,

B le n cat h ara come into view , with great and others to the north . The name is seemingly made up 159 160 WIL D L AKE L AND

1 o f blen a tongue and cat h ir a fort not seat

o r dl sad e as has been suggested , the tongue shaped hill o f the fort is another example o f the S plendid possibilities o f the Keltic in names which are carefully descriptive and at the same

time sonorous and musical . Because Helvellyn has o n e o r two precipitous and dangerous places it is generally assumed that it is a di fficult hill to climb but thi s is quite a

mistake . An experienced Alpine climber who

o r went up Helvellyn seven eight times says , it is the easiest mountain to ascend from any point ” o f that is possible . He meant that there are ,

course , certain points from which most mountains

are impossible .

This great hill like many others , looks best in

G ri e d l . s a e my Opinion , from a distance From

and Ullswater it impressed me most . The summit

is bare and , like some other mountain summits ,

o f i n o t disappointing . The best view a h ll is obtained by looking down upon it from a greater

height , in my judgement , but in looking at it from a spot below from which we can get an

r uninter upted view , a view over a valley for

o f B o wfe ll instance . Such a view we get , Crinkle

1 S ee page 109 .

L AKE L AND’S HAUNTI NG ME MOR IE S 161

S cawfell t h e - Crags , , from Windermere Amble side road ; from L ake Road Windermere , from

e nk in Waterhead , Ambleside ; from J Crag and t i other points . These views are finer than any h ng you can get from the summit o f Helvellyn o r o f

n Wa sfe ll o r most other hills . The really interesting thing about Helvellyn is the curious effect o f the south-eastward moving

- glacier o f some twenty five thousand years since , when it broke o n the rocky ridge and sharpened

- in its descent the razor like Stridi ng Edge . As it plunged downward it left this grandly curved and noble precipice , which is the greatest beauty o f the mountain . It does not seem to have been noticed that a very similar precipice can be seen towards evening when the shadows are dark and velvety in looking up from Waterhead t o High Pike the larger Of the beautiful peaks that dominate the east side o f the R o t h ay Valley overlooking the Scandale burn and glen . T o those who judge a mountain by its height rather than by its beauty o r grandeur of outline ; or who consider that a view in whi ch yo u get glimpses of six counties is necessarily better than a view of B le n cat h ara or S ch ie h alli o n o r Ben Cruachan at 21 162 WIL D L AKE L AND

di L o w 1 63 7 ten miles stance , Pike feet and High

hi s ll Peak , grand compatriot , wi not appeal . To me the view o f them from the road near Waterhead (I have seen them excellently from the motor coach) with the glacier -made edge o f High

Pike and its deep shadow below, is much better worth seeing than Striding Edge the real beauty o f nl l di which can o y be rea ised from a stance , as when seen close at hand , we are too near to get its great shadows . Distance and high lights and deep shadows

o n e o f and mist are half landscape , and colour ff and cloud e ects are the other half. The part draped beauty is the most subtle and attractive , because suggestion inspires us while discovered facts leave us unmoved .

Sometimes , however , a mountain may make

l o f k kin an appea to us another ind , to that made — by a noble outline b y its grand cliffs and its black , jagged rocks for ever shattered and

o f the same for ever . There is much that appeal made by Striding Edge and by the grand view o f the angular ridges o f Red Screes (seen from the height above Caist o n Glen) with their red colour and the deep drop to Brothers Water

K irk st o ne and the Pass far below . L AKE L AND ’S HAUNTING ME MOR IE S 163

o f o f The fine crags and precipices Ill Bell ,

B laikri A gg , and the rabian Nights touch about

o n L those tremendous caves oughrigg Terrace , with their dripping roofs and great lakes full o f green water ; these are also among the haunting memories of L akeland .

AMB L E SIDE T O ULL SWAT E R 165

tracks . Below Ill Bell is the Kentmere reservoir , the mere at Kentmere itself having long since been drained as nearly dry as yo u can drain t any hing in that region . The river Kent rises

L in m e ll between Harter Fell and g , close to the

G arb urn famous Nan Bield Pass . To the south is

o f Pass above , the deep , and splendid valley the

Kent which gives its name to the town o f Kendal . Thi s hill region is very different in character from the hills to the westward ; save for the picturesque group o f hills which overshadow the

K irk st o n e — Pass Ill Bell , Great Dodd , John Bell ’s Banner and Dove Crag it is a region of

fl at - i round , topped summits wh ch become a little

I n bleak and monotonous , resembling this the

l o f - o f fel s Shap and the cold , wind swept heights

n hi dl o ut the Pe nine Chain , w ch rise gran y of the

o f flat rich valley the Eden .

PATT E R DAL E AND GL E NR IDDING

Hart so Some two miles beyond p, if we keep

i o n to the ma n road , we have , the hills above , Angle Tarn and the great stretch o f Martindale

Forest . On the other hand we have a road that

o f leads to the fine valley Deepdale . We are now 166 WIL D L AKE L AND

i ll in Patterdale wh ch is watered by the Gold Ri ,

o r — beck burn all these words mean the same .

’ P at rickdale The names and St . Patrick s Well may date from early Christian times or from the eleventh

r G o s at rick o f centu y when p , cousin the Scottish l l C king , Ma co m anmore , was Earl of Northumber land and owner o fa great part o fpresent Cumber

r o f hi s land and Westmorland . The fi st part name Guas was the British equivalent to

ille l Gaelic g a fol ower and he represented , of

i l - course , the Gael c Kelt , but was a so a great great

f Of . grandson o Ethelred II . England He was therefore seventh in descent from King Alfred and was the chief representative of the kin o f

St . Columba , who were kings of those Scots who first brought Christianity and a h igher civili sation k to their insmen in tongue and in blood , the northern and southern Picts as Ninian had done to the Picts Of Galloway nearly a century earlier .

- o ur Thomas Hardy , the great novel writer of

o f day , tells us the story Tess who sprang

’ D Urb e rville s from imaginary , but her romance cannot compare in historic interest with the fact that in L akeland and in other parts are still representatives o f G o spat rick and his forebears . CHAPTER XXXIX

UL L S WAT E R AND HE L V E L L YN

N OT only the families but the Older place -names tell o f the Gael and not the Briton as words like

G le nriddan Gle n co in and , Dove (Dubh that is

black) Crag and Aird Beck suggest . Patterdale and Glenridding stand at the head

o f o n e o f o f Ullswater , which is the grandest the English lakes and in length second only to

Windermere . On the whole the scenery in this di strict is

rt wilder , barer , bleaker , than it is fu her to the

west . The colouring is less brilliant . Round

S t b arro w y the woods are , however , very fine and the walk to the waterfall at Aira Force is perhaps

the best thing to be seen at Ullswater Head .

t o o The walk along the lake towards Penrith , i is magn ficent . Nearly all the names round here are o f English 167

ULL SWAT E R AND HE L VE LL Y N 169 t ry any o f these hills for the first time without the guidance of some one who knows the neigh b o urh o o d ul , nor sho d he go unprovided with food . From the head o fUllswater there is a fine walk by D un m alle t and the S plendi d green pastures o f D ale main and the clear stream o f Eamont

Y amo n t to quaint , stony , cosy Penrith . As we near the town we pass the historic and beauti

Old — Y anwit h ful tower of the Threlkelds Hall . It is a fine specimen o f the better-class Border fortress .

e s Her about , sometimes in the castle itself, Sir L ancelot Threlkeld sheltered his stepson the

L l ff o f Shepherd ord , C i ord Cumberland from the time o f the terrible battle Of Towton where f ’ ll Clif ord s father was ki ed , as described by l Shakespeare . It was not til the accession o f

Henry VII . that the young lord was restored to his dominions which included the great castle o f

o f Brougham near Penrith , Brough Castle south i Appleby , and Skipton in Yorksh re . Near to the head Of Ullswater is a house called E u sme re which was built by a famous man — a famous in the best sense , man who fought a hard and gallant fight against vested interest . 22 170 WI L D L AKE L AND This was Thomas Clarkson who di d more than any man to do away with that shameful slavery which allowed human beings to be actually bought ll i and sold . Slavery is sti with us but not in th s crude form . To day a man may move about from town to town from county to county and may change hi s employer . The African slave could do none o f these things before the days of Clarkson and his thirty years ’ fight against those who had made fortunes , as was said , by f the black bloo d o the African . CHAPTER ! L

T HE K ING S OF PAT T E R DAL E

I N Patterdale a family long flourished at G o ldrill

Cottage and later at Patterdale Hall , who bore ” o f the title o f Kings of Patterdale . Some the name (Mounsey) still remain in the di strict

in k o f I th . It appears that in the days the Border raids a party of Scots moss -troopers rode down into this valley as they had the habit o f L doing , sometimes penetrating into ancashire ,

Durham and Yorkshire . On this particular occasion the shepherds o f the Ullswater fells

o n e o f were summoned by Mounsey , their number ,

S O the story goes . He proved to be a very

o f o f Napoleon , a prodigy valour and strategy , for he actually defeated the Scots . This it would seem had never before been accomplished , for

k o f they decided to make him ing their district . The family held the title for many generations all and were the leaders in things great and small . 17 1

KI NGS OF PATT E R DAL E 173

Again he says L yddi sdale is the most offensive countrie against both the West and the Middle Marches the strength o fthe country consists o f two surnames o f A rme st ran ge s and E l 1 wo o de s.

1 T E lwands o ed e o E ll o t s. hat is , c rrupt lat r int i CHAPTER ! L I

R AVE NGL ASS AN D B L ACK C OMB E

’ THE SE A S HAR VE ST O N T HE CUMB R I AN COAST

’ Oh t h e e e e are e , s a s grim st ds snowy whit , B ut re d t h e e e e is toll th y rid to tak , And re d is t h e sorrow in the ir wake t h e and In dark stormy night .

’ To — t h e e e e day s a s wild hors s whin and hiss , are e e e e And full th y of fi rc int nt , T e l e e e hough two days gon ik lambs th y w nt , W e h n mothe rs and wive s took the ir last kiss .

On e l e e e e e e e in of thin gr y foam th y w r all w k , L istl e ss as though the re none we re le ft to ride Upon the ir backs and dash aught e lse aside h e e e e And all t l v l sands lay brown and sle k .

To -night t h e wild hors e s ris e in war array e five e e e e e e Som lin s d p , and , as ach pois d rank br aks , B e e e t h e e e e e hind th ir backs th y fling fi rc whit flak s , h e e e Flushing t b ach with show rs of glitte ring spray . 174 R AVE NGL ASS AND B L ACK COMB E 175

Strange the y should strive SO that the y s e e k to re nd Th e t h e e e are ships that by silv r Shor s strown , While widows lift the ir hands and we e p and moan — Ah who shall te ll t h e whe re fore to what e nd P

’ Tis He t h e se a e s He k said walks and y , nows , e h e e e e His hand can plac t bit that giv s th m paus , e h e -fl e cke d Within thos ivory , w it , foam ! aws — Thus sadly the n He re aps and ye t He sows

’ Oh t h e e e e are e , s a s grim st ds snowy whit , B ut re h e e e e d is t toll th y rid to tak , And re d is t h e sorrow in the ir wake

In t h e dark and howling night . M C N E A KE ZI MAcB R I DE .

BL ACK COMB E stands like a sentinel o n the stormy

f o f coast o Cumberland . In the Opinion Words worth the view from the flat tableland at its top L is the finest in the ake District . It is certainly the most extensive view in L akeland but accord

o f ing to Colonel Mudge the Ordnance Survey , the hill commands the widest view in Great l Britain . From it fourteen Eng ish and Scottish — counties can be seen if yo u are anxious to see them all at once— and westward Ireland south ll ward the grim bare Yorkshire hi s . Near home we have Seathwaite and Broughton in Furness and the Valley o fthe Duddon the Isle of Walne y and Piel Castle also L ancaster Castle ; the

R AVE NGL ASS AND B L ACK COMB E 177

o f S cawfe ll you to Boot , at the foot , either by walking o r by the little railway from Ravenglass . From the antiquarian point o f view nearly all the interesting spots in a di strict which is not rich in antiquities o r romantic memories (apart from its scenery) lie scattered around the town , i k so that it is to my th n ing , the best of all centres

n o the eastern side . From it the hi storic castle of Muncaster is dl only a mile and a half distant . It is gran y placed above the Esk , which flows past the town .

b e Very historic is also , Egremont Castle ; it longed to the de Mult o n family who took the

L o n e name of the heiress Of the ucys , whom of them married . The castle was built by the

Of li le great Earl Chester , Wil am Meschen . Five miles from Egremont is Calder Abbey , a charm ing spot . This was also founded by Ranulf,

o f o f l Earl Chester , a member the same fami y , in

1 1 3 4 .

Near Black Combe again , there is a monument o f great antiquity . It is what people , for want o f l dr di a better name , cal a ui cal temple . It

S win side stands at , right among the hills and 285 measures no less than feet round . Within

fift - this circle are y four upright stones .

CHAPTER XL II

G AR B UR N PASS FR OM T R OUT B E CK

I T S GR E AT SUR PR ISE

THE R E are few lonelier tracks than that ancient pack horse road which leads from Troutbeck

rn up to G arb u Pass . There is an approach to it

also by Orre st Head which joins the track later . From the lower road we have to go over the first stone bridge after passing Troutbeck

church . There is a short climb to the farm di ll house . From the p in the hi made by the stream we get a good view o f the finely shaped cone o f Ill Bell and the group o f hills which rise

K irk st o n e above the Pass . What complaint Ill f Bell suf ers from I know not , but whatever it is I ll it must be a chronic complaint . But then Bell may be a mere vulgar dropping o f the letter

h and his name may be Hill Bell all the time . 179 180 WIL D L AKE L AND

’ 111 o r well , Bell has a noble front and I don t know what the Troutbeck valley would do without him . Close by o n the hill called High Street are the remains o f a Roman road .

Nothing in their history , as some writer has

o n e o f said , impresses with the greatness the Romans so much as the sight o f the remains of the Roman wall o n the Northumberland and

Cumberland border . The roads which passed , like the Maiden way over Cross Fell in the Penn ines ; o r in Westmorland and Cumberland

o f ll over the tops remote hi s , are almost as

o n wonderful . Nothing stopped the Roman ; di dl he went metho cally , soli y . From the bridge we can see a long stretch o f the glittering stream fringed with trees and above it these noble hills . At the farm we turn to the left and pass

o n o ld - through a gate to the pack horse track ,

i ll S o r cl mb the hi to get a hort cut . Short cuts are , in my experience , and I have been lost and had

o ut o n ll to sleep the hi s , very long cuts , and it is

o r much better to keep to the road track . It is true that in many parts the road is more f like a water all than a road , but the short cut is ! probably worse It is a steady climb , and the G AR B UR N PASS FR OM T ROUT B E CK 181

o f surface the track is awful , but we are repaid by the keen air and the blusterous wind , fresh as L a breeze from apland .

T HE TONG UE

On o ur right we have a high bank and o n o ur left the prettiest view Of the Troutbeck Valley , as we can here see the Tongue whi ch fills the top end . And all the time we are approaching

o n o r Applethwaite Common which is u left . It fills up all the southern corner Of the valley and as we approach becomes more varied and lovely in colour . First we have only the bracken and dead g rasses whi ch give a fine contrast to the browns and reds . And now a stray shaft o f

l - sun ight rests upon the bronze and wine red brae . — The track lies through a farmyard a sheep -dog

o ut o f puts his head a window upstairs , a kitten skips daintily over the wet path a very fine fat

boy with very rosy cheeks Opens the gate , and

o u t we are on the track . We have o n o ur left the red brae with its t wo lovely patches o f apple

green making the reds so brilliant . From here

l Wan sfe ll we get an excel ent view of , filling all

S o f the opposite ide the glen .

G AR B UR N PASS FR OM T ROUT B E CK 183 corrie above has a blue velvet shadow with a f margin o bright sage green with mottled shadows .

T o the right we have the bright red brae . We

o f agree , my friend and I , that the head the valley is the finest part o fit . The place is here absolutely bare o f trees o r o f the homes of men to the north - east we have still

l n e i t urs Ill Bel and his g , and on the nearer hill - sides there is now an unexpected depth o f — colour red , yellows ; soft greens , very light in — tone , and , behind the luminous fell slopes the

o f same blue patch shadow beyond . Northwards we can see Red Screes n o w very

all K irk st o n e well , and the region and , at this

o u t closer range , the contour of Ill Bell comes very clearly as does the nearer hillside with its b o t t le f gre e n grass and bleached velvety patches o f sage green . Below we see the point where the Troutbeck road crosses into the Kirkst o n e road .

A S we approach the Pass we can , looking back

o f S cawfe ll ward , get another glimpse and Great

- Gable and , to the north east , Of the snowy peak o f n o fB o wfe ll Helvelly , as also and all the Winder mere giants . At the summit the scene is made sombre by 184 WIL D L AKE L AND

Of the deep brown almost black , the faded heather n l e s o the northern p above the Pass . L ooking over the succession o f sloping ridges

o f backed by the deep blue shadow Red Screes , the scene is very fine , very wild .

HE AD OF T HE PASS

We have now reached the summit , and we turn o ur backs towards Troutbeck valley and enter

G arb urn . the long hidden , Pass It is short . I lingered for a moment and my friend went forward . I then followed my friend and as I rose

was saw him below me . He gazing over at a most — impressive Sight a deep valley had suddenly ull Of yawned below us f rocky shapes . To the east were a succession of hills forming part o f the

Pennine Chain , and right opposite high up in ” o f l the mist dim in ancient fastnesses twi ight ,

o f i ill were the monsters the Yorksh re h s , the we st e rn s ur o f ni p the Pen nes , touched here and there with yellow half light like giants in some mysterious giant land . It is a surprise view o f whi ch I have not seen

I n o f L the equal all I know akeland . It was strange that the most neglected o f

GAR B UR N PASS FR OM T R OUT B E CK 185 L ake District climbs should have yielded so much pleasure ; for not o n e o f the tourist books does

n more than mention G arb ur Pass . What I was told by the natives was merely that the Pass itself was pretty , whereas though the Pass has fine l views , in itse f it is not pretty and there is very

o f is little it . The View from it mysterious and wonderful . CHAPTER XL III

T R OUT B E CK ME MOR IE S

THOMAS HOG AR T H T HE SAT IR IST

R T B E CK o n e o f T OU , like Ambleside , stands at ll i two Openings in those hi s , wh ch , since Roman

times , were regarded as a natural rampart between the south and the Scottish and Pictish hosts who made the fat valleys o f Westmorland their

K irk st o n e hunting ground . Next to the Pass

and Ambleside Valley , the Troutbeck valley which forks Off at the K irk st o ne inn was the road most

frequented by cattle lifters . All ll the roads into Troutbeck are hi y , but the road up from L o w Wood by the footpath and through the planting and over the Holbeck

by the bridge , is the prettiest .

The easiest way is , however , the road from Troutbeck Bridge which leads yo u close by the

t o river , Town End . T R OUT B E CK ME MOR IE S 187 Besides its claims to notice for beauty and the

o f picturesqueness its old houses , its farm build

n ings and spin ing galleries , the Troutbeck dwellers

in the past possessed individuality and character . They were prominent in their day for their appre

ciat io n o f o n e o f art , for them was a satirist and

wh o 1 7 00 playwright , in and about the year ,

wrote plays which drew great audi ences . This

Ho art o r was Thomas gg Hogarth , originally

Hogherd . I have shown elsewhere that the o ld idea that

o f ll the Hogarth family , which Wi iam Hogarth

the painter came , sprang from Troutbeck was a

hi brities . L it rar Cele . s e mistake Mr Sessions , in y o th e L ake D ist rict o f f , spoke Troutbeck as the

H rt h o f ancestral home of the o ga s. The writer ’ B lack s G uide 1 87 9 , edition , again states that

’ Ho gart h s father was born in the Troutbeck i f 1 9 valley . Th s is repeated in the edi tion o 1 9 o f that excellent book . Atkinson , writing in

1 85 0 o f , gives Thomas as the brother Richard

o f l and uncle Wil iam , the painter , and states that ul 0 a d Thomas was born about 1 67 . This is impossible in view o f the epitaph given by Adam Walker and written by Thomas Hogarth

o n himself the death o fhis daughter Anne in 1 7 05 .

T R OUT B E CK ME MORIE S 189

The Old cottage of Hogarth stood upon the site now occupied by the new District Bank

a commanding position , but a new house was built upon the Spot after auld Thomas

’ Ho art h s o n e g death , by Wilson who appears to have bought the property from Woodburn . Amongst the o ld furniture and reli cs saved by

Wilson from the old house , an anonymous Trout l beck correspondent now te ls me , was the carved hi o ak panel of the old Court cupboard . T s went

o f B o f to one the rownes Town End , Troutbeck ,

’ o ld l o n e o f of an Statesman s fami y , whom married

’ Wilson s sister . This explains how it came to be sold at The Boot .

Hogarth , the painter , was born in Bartholomew

L . Close , ondon , as is proved by the Parish Register

His father , who , it is most interesting to know , had literary leanings , was the son of a Bampton k h yeoman o f K ir byt o re origin .

’ The painter s father , Richard Hogarth , had ” Ho art o r an uncle , this was Thomas g , Hogg ” l di d herd , who real y settle at Troutbeck . He

’ l T ro ut b e ck s was certain y , most remarkable man

and ought not to be forgotten . al The late Sir Douglas G ton , that most k penetrating thin er , whom I have Often met at 190 WIL D L AKE L AND

o f the meetings a certain public body , wrote a book on the heredity o r persistence of genius in

m r fa ilies . It is ve y interesting to find that Thomas

’ o f ll Ho art h s Hogarth Troutbeck , Wi iam g great

o f uncle , was a pungent and vigorous writer plays and of verse and a biting satirist o f local follies .

’ Certainly Ho gart h s writings show a remark able mental likeness to hi s grand- nephew the

o f painter . Take , for instance , his description the Parish Clerk o f Windermere (which included Troutbeck) in days when it must have needed so much courage to criticise local men and manners in that remote , inaccessible valley . ’ Ho rt h Astonishing success attended ga s efforts . Education at that time was much more wide spread and more literary than it became a century

o f later . The decline was due to the rise the

o f manufacturing industries , the adoption the factory system and the buying up of the o ld

L akeland Statesmen by the big landowners .

’ Ho art h s n Old g bold ess and virility , at any rate , must have been widely known , and it says much for the people that the whole countryside was interested in his plays .

o f One these was , Walker says , enacted on ’ 1 693 ff St . James s Day , , upon a sca old at the T R OUTB E CK ME MORIE S 191

Moss Gap , Troutbeck . In another , The ” i o f l . Destruction Troy , Wa ker h mself took part The whole story was represented the wooden u horse , Hector dragged by the heels , the f ry of

D io m e d o f ZE n e as ni , the flight , and the bur ng f o . the city The stage , he says , was a fabrica tion of boards placed about six feet high , on strong poles ; the greenroom was partitioned Off with the same materials its ceiling was the azure canopy of heaven there were more spectators for three days together than the three theatres ” L ul in ondon wo d hold ; and let me add , he says , you never saw an audience half so well ” pleased . Of Ho ggart in his lighter vein the following verses , already referred to , are a specimen . They give an amusing glimpse o f the Windermere o f his day UPON T HE PR E S E NT CLE R K OF WI NDE R ME R E

Unde r the se monume ntal stone s P C e l e A arish l rk doth y , e e e e A hogsh ad doth nclos his bon s ,

For h e was always dry .

’ t h e are la d His lips unto tap y , His back to t h e bung-hole brink Wh o h e b e e knows although that d ad , B ut h e may dre am of drink

CHAPTER XL IV

! T HE L O ST SIGN OF T HE MOR T AL MAN

T HE MO R T AL MAN is o n e o f the most famous hostelries in all L akeland and equally famous is

’ o f its lost sign . Gainsborough s stolen Duchess

Devonshire has not been more talked about . In

! ” t o the sale I referred at The Boot Troutbeck , at which the wall cupboard was bought by Mr .

o f George Tyson , there were a number paintings

S by Ibbetson wh o painted the ign . These pictures should be noted by L ake Country

o n e lf l collectors , for Ibbetson was of the most ski u

Of painters of L akeland scenery . At the sale there were Offered an engraved portrait Of Ibbetson himself, by R . Cooper ,

lo t B rat h a engraved by J . R . Smith ( y

’ Bridge Tam O Sh an t e r Classical

L 40 x 29 L andscape , odore Wood 1 5 4 land River Scene , pair ( and Old Bridge 193 25

T HE L OST SIGN OF ! T HE MOR T AL MAN 195

The Mortal Man . He was later , invited to

settle at Masham by Mr . Danby o f Swinton di 1 81 7 . Park , and there he ed in His last work L was reminiscent Of his home in the ake District . It was a view of Ambleside Market Place with the 1 01 Old buildings as they stood in 8 . Though his name is so well known in Amble

di o f side strict , as far as I have heard no work ” his can be seen there . At the sale at The Boot , f o . as will be seen , there were several his works It would be interesting to see them along with

those of William Green , restored to Ambleside . Sir L ionel Cust said that as a painter Of cattle and pigs Ibbetson has hardly been excelled in

hi s f England . He added that pictures o animals were much prized , especially in Yorkshire ; and that in hi s landscape painting he somewhat

l R . A resembled Richard Wi son , . Ibbetson publi shed A P ict uresque G uide t o

B at h A P rocess o T in te d D rawin A n , f g and A ccidence or G amut of P ain t ers in Oil an d Wat er

There was also in the sale at The Boot an ” - o n . oil painting a panel by J Martin , which

’ was formerly the signboard o f The Traveller s ”

K irkst o n e . Rest , Pass There can be no doubt 196 WIL D L AKE L AND

that thi s was the famous John Martin (a North

umbrian) , whose name has also been linked with L akeland . According t o local tradition his famous picture The Plains o f Heaven was painted from the scene in Glen Scandale looking down over the

ll- S hi lopes towards Windermere and Furness , a

very imposing spectacle . This was amongst the last pictures painted by Martin who , by the way ,

l L in de sa was then iving at famous y House , Chel

sea . His pictures , especially his impressive Bel

’ sh az z ar s Feast were greatly prized until towards f the end o his career . Martin probably well knew the north Of England . He was a native Of Haydon Bridge near Hexham and no doubt the vast , rolling , rather dreary and colourless mountain l pe s and broad valleys o fthe Pennines him inspired , suiting well the grim subjects he loved to depict . CHAPTER ! L V

T R OUT B E CK AN D J E NK IN CR AG

S I R WIL L IAM WAT S ON AND S K E L G I L L — TR OUT B E CK in the next generation at least for we are slow in giving to living genius the honour that is its due—will count among its memories the

’ fact that o ur finest poet since Swinburne s day

ke l ill lived at S g near Troutbeck . I refer to Sir William Watson who put into the followin g splendi d verses the real case for Wordsworth

’ No t M e e i e ilton s k n translunar music th n , ’ No t Sh ak e s e ar s e e e p cloudl ss , boundl ss human vi w, ’ No t e e e e di e Sh ll y s flush of ros on p aks vin , No r ye t t h e wiz ard twilight Cole ridge kne w .

What hadst thou that could make so large ame nds e e e e For all thou hadst not , and thy p rs poss ss d , M fire e n e otion and , swift m a s to radiant nds

Thou hadst for we ary fe e t t h e gift of re st . 197

T R OUT B E CK AND JE NKIN CR AG 199

that described in another chapter . On the journey to Troutbeck from Ambleside the traveller has

ill o n his back to the great h s , but if the return journey he takes the ancient Roman Road which ,

o f f leaving Troutbeck a little west the Post O fice ,

o f Wan sfe ll follows along the side , he has the hills before him all the way . At the summit he comes to a gate o n which the words T o Ambleside i are painted . From this po nt the road descends to L o w Skelgill ; it there crosses the Holbeck by a bridge and continues through the farm

o f Ske l ill e nkin yard High g and J Crag , from hi w ch fine views may be seen , to the old Amble

F ish e r e ck d b . si e road , past The reason why this road S hould be chosen for the return journey is that all the way from the gate marked Ambleside the traveller will as I have said have before him the giant hills lying at the head o f Windermere o n the western side — the grand battlements Of Crinkle Crags like

’ B o wfe ll a Giant s fortress ; and the monstrous ,

- i L ever chang ng shapes of the angdale Pikes . If the peaks o f the S cawfe ll group are di fficult o f approach and difficult to see from the country L around , the angdale Pikes are almost everywhere

- present . From this Troutbeck Ske lgill track the 200 WI L D L AKE L AND

scene is especially grand . Of course the view is

o f Wan sfe ll more extensive from the top , say , but from the lower level we get a much fuller sense Of the height and grandeur Of the hills .

They , as it were , thus retain some of their secrets ,

o f their grace outline , their glamour .

’ TR OUT B E CK FR OM COOK S HOUS E

Yet another route to Troutbeck , which was ll ’ origina y in St . Martin s Parish , Bowness , as was the present village o f Windermere (B e rt h wait e ) and all Ambleside above the Stock river . That

n f o f is o the south side o it . The connection Troutbeck with Windermere has always been close and the o ld road between them goes from

’ ’ Cook s House and Miller Brow past R agrigg to

ll O the vi age o f Bowness . S that after visiting Troutbeck you can cross the valley at Town End footbridge and find an excellent road leading to the Windermere - Ambleside road below Orre st

Head .

CHAPTER XL VI

PICT UR E S Q UE L AK E L AND INDUST R IE S

PE AT -CUT T ING

AMONG the industries o f L akeland o ne Of the

r di Oldest is peat cutting and d ying . The strict

o f L of Furness lying on both sides Coniston ake , was once covered with vast forests . The forest o f Blawith lay o n the west and evidences of its having been well wooded have been found in the — — form o f trees o ak and fir whi ch have been

o ut o r - dug up of the mosses peat bogs , and these ,

Camden says , generally lay with their tops towards i the east , the h gh winds being always from the

vve st .

The fir tree has been planted extensively by suggestion o f the Forestry Department o n Belle Isle in Windermere and at Rydal during the last few years . The experiment has been very 201 26 202 WIL D L AKE L AND

successful , because , no doubt , the conifer was once common to all this mountain region as to Scotland .

di . It is in fact , the har est tree in Europe It

o n ll 9000 grows in the Alps hi s of feet . It is of course an evergreen and its small narrow leaf f of ers the least possible foothold for the snow . The rustling of its leaves when shaken by the

o n e o f o f wind is the great sounds Nature , it is like the rush of a mighty cataract . How di d these vast forests of the L ake District di sappear ? Wood and peat were for centuries the only fuel ; the peat has been extensively cut L and the ground cleared . ittle peat has been cultivated for its own sake since the introduction

S Of coal , and the phagnum and other roots from which it is formed in the wet fells have been rooted o u t fo r . This accounts the peat mosses being now much less extensive . The woods have gone not by storms but probably because every landowner sold his timber

u — whenever he was hard p and that was often . He was generally too improvident o r too poor

o r o f to replant , was in the hands the Abbots and Priors o f reli gious houses who were extensive

Of lenders money to distressed gentry . Trees have been found in many o f the peat PICT URE SQ UE L AKE L AND INDUST RIE S 203 bogs far up on the hills so that there were at o n e k i time forests o f which we now noth ng .

L e wI S 1ve s l Mr . F . J . g the fo lowing as the composition o f the th ree kinds o f peat in the

—E rio h rum di . o Cross Fell strict Recent peat p ,

h a — B e t u la Sp g num Callima. Forest bed peat

i rn a alba A lnus lu tinosa L chrus d u . , g , y , etc

— A buscu la S alim re ticu lata S . r Arctic bed peat , ,

A r t l h i a c ost aphy os a p n .

o f The plants the forest bed peat , he says , suggest temperate conditions replacing the arctic conditions of the lowest deposits . The alpine plants still grow in the L ake

District . The floating islands o n Coniston L ake and Derwentwater are said to be formed o f peat grown in shallow lakes o r parts of lakes from aquatic plants . One o f the chief of the peat mosses is at

Seathwaite near Coniston , which had previously been part of the vast forest o f Furness . There the peat is Often as much as forty feet thick . Similar mosses are also formed in the mountain tarns which have gradually filled up in this way .

o n e Two tarns , almost completely filled up with

o n m e peat , may be seen the lower p of Scandale ,

PICT UR E SQ UE L AKE L AND INDUST R I E S 205

ments are made . The trees lay far down in the

morass . In Westmorland and Cumberland as in the hl d Hig ands and in Irelan , the peat fires were kept burning in the houses from generation to genera tion and in some districts were re -kindled only — ’ — n 1 st . once a year o St . Bride s Day February This is probably of very ancient origin as the saint was merely a survival of the o ld Keltic goddess f o the hearth and home . After her the kingdom o f i i L Brigantia , wh ch ncluded the ake District , is believed to have been named . CHAPTER XL VII

CHAR C OAL -BUR NING

B E FOR E coal was di scovered and used to any extent , all up and down the country there were small blo o m arie s o r forges for the making of iron implements , swords and other articles . In the South o f England I have seen the Old pools in many parts o f Sussex and Kent which were used by these forges in days when Sussex was the centre o f the English iron industry and the district all along the Weald or forest o f Kent and Surrey and Sussex was noted for its furnaces . It was the di scovery o f coal that caused the iron industry to become centred in L ancashire and

o f other parts the Midlands .

blo o marie s The dated from very ancient times , so ancient that in the L ake District many Of these ” o ld b lo o marie s furnaces were known as Roman , and may have dated from Roman days . 206 PICT URE SQ UE L AKE L AND INDUST R IE S 207

o f i In Western Argyll , the original seat Gael c

hl o f civilisation in the West Hig ands , I know many places bearing ancient names like Porst

’ Ce ardaich — o f o r na Port the Smith , Alt

’ Ce ardaich o f na Burn the Smith , and ’ — Bal na Gown (G o b h ain ) Place o r Village

o ld of the Smith . By these places many refuse heaps have been found connected with the

’ Smith s ancient calling .

o ld L o f In all these akeland forges , course ,

- charcoal or peat was used , and charcoal burning

o n L is still carried in the English ake District . One of the oldest blo o m arie s in the north was

i B ck a b arro w . reopened dur ng the War , at In the Coniston di strict the business o f charcoal burning was carried o n to supply this forge with charcoal . It is a very ancient trade , and has some

o n e o f interesting customs , which is a little sur — prising it is the custom o f the charcoal-burner to sleep in his clothes . The reason is that the work needs close attention both night and day . In ancient times Ooppice wood was grown especially for the charcoal , but the once extensive di L Coppices have mostly sappeared in akeland . The wood is at its best for this purpose in the

u rrm summer and aut . It is placed under a

PICT URE SQ UE L AKE L AND INDUST R IE S 209

l stakes . The smaller stakes are placed a l round

like rafters on a roof. The pit is then filled with charcoal and over these rafters is placed a thatch

o f - thick carpet grass . The fire is then kindled

o n o f - the floor the cone shaped Wigwam . The fire smoulders for about twenty-four hours and has to be watched by the charcoal -burner night l and day , because if a flame arises it spoi s the

charcoal . After two days the clods o fturf are withdrawn

and the charcoal is ready . One batch will give

ir - o f about th ty six bags charcoal . In the last stage o f their manufacture we have little sticks o f charcoal o f about the thi ckness

o f - of your thumb . The life a charcoal burner is a hard o n e despite its romance and close

u contact with the beautif l in Nature . The pay 1 05 in 9 was thirty shillings a week . The charcoal made in the woods at the north end o f Coni ston L ake was taken down to Nib thwaite Q uay at the south end in the boats that plied o n the L ake until the railway was Opened 1 85 f L in 9 . The tra fic on the ake had existed

Of l L since the time Wil iam de ancaster , great

- T alle b o is L great grandson Of Ivo de , ord of n Kendal , Windermere , Rydal , Grasmere , Worki g 27

CHAPTER XL VIII

’ S CAWF E L L S MYST IC CIR CL E

PE R HAPS the most wonderful and certainly the most famous road out of Keswick leads to that region o fgrim and fantastic shapes where S cawfe ll

Pike and Great Gable and the Steeple Rock ,

S cawfe ll B o wfe ll , Great End and , stand in a

S mystic circle , more hidden from the ightseer

o f than any other mountain range . The view

Wast wat e r with Great Gable at its head , a

o f and mountain rare grace beauty , is famous , but the view on turning into it from Wast dale n ll is fi er . And here is the sma church which

succeeded an an cient o n e o fno known dedi cation . The scene around is extraordinarily grand and

r . th eatening . The Screes rising right up from the lake impress you with their height and vast

o u t ness , and completely shut the sunlight from east and south fo r the whole o f the three and a 211 212 WIL D L AKE L AND

mi o f l S e at alle n o ut half les its length , whi e shuts the red and gold Of the west . At Nether Wast dale at the foot (the south end) o f the L ake is another small church whi ch has succeeded an ancient church whose dedi cation was unknown . The seating accommodation was ,

hi k -five I t n , for forty people . From Nether Wast dale it is best to take a boat if you wish to ll S cawfe . climb Pike From a boat also , a fine impression o f the magnificent surroundin gs may be best Obtained . The rocks here are of granite and they lend themselves to all sorts o f pillar like spikes and spiral forms and grim precipices . CHAPTER XL IX

E NNE R DAL E WAT E R

A N D I T S MINING ME MOR IE S

ENNE R DAL E L AK E has been called the loveliest

’ o f Cumberland s waters . That is saying a good deal , but it is true that it has about it the sense

o f o f of remoteness , silence , austerity . It stands beside some o f the grandest o f the lakeland

Wast dale S cawfe ll mountains , in the , , the Steeple

ll Me lb re ak and the Pi ar , Great Gable and direction . The L ake is grandly set among bare and rocky

l G o n e o f hi ls . Great able , the most admired

ll o f and finely placed hi s , stands at the head

ast a e r L W w t and the foot Of Ennerdale ake .

k o n From Red Pi e its bank , no less than five

: lakes can be seen Derwentwater , Crummock L Water , owes Water , Buttermere and Ennerdale itself.

E NNE R DAL E WATER 215

Mr . Boundy was the lessee also , of the copper mines at Srahlaghy some seven miles further l in and , across the great bog . There as every

o f where he went , he was the wise father the village — di employer , counsellor , me cal adviser and sick nurse . Despite the fact that he was ultra

i - Engl sh and ultra Protestant , among the wholly Irish and Catholic people he was immensely popular in Ireland as he was at Ennerdale . CHAPTER L

T HE S CAWF E L L R ANG E

ONL Y a little westward from Ambleside and

- i Windermere and south west of Kesw ck , we have

the highest mountain region o f England . You

k o n e all can , I thin some has pointed out , cover the famous mountain climbs in a twenty -mile

circle with Grasmere as a centre . The chief o f these heights are in the B o wfell

and S cawfell neighbourhood . Here the verdure which is so notable by the l lakes , disappears . We have rocks and bare hil

tops with a little bracken and short heather , o n the lower Slopes and the mosses and plants — characteristic o f mountain re glo n s the Fir Club ’ l moss , Staghorn moss (wolf s claw) and A pine L ’ ady s Mantle and Alpine Club moss . The buzzard hawk I have seen here lately forty years ago it was almost extinct in the L ake District . 216 T HE SCAWF E L L R ANGE 217

A capital description of the bird and its habits was given in a popular magazine by my friend Mr .

Charles Walmsley of Ambleside some time ago . In the heart of this region the wealth o f bird life disappears ; a sin gle stonechat o n e climber ’ l records having seen in a day s c imb , and again

S i t . a ingle buzzard , a sw f and a stonechat Of course ravens are t o be seen wherever sheep are fed on the hills . Other birds sometimes seen are the dotterel , curlew, peewit , jackdaw and swift .

WR Y N OSE PASS AND WAST D AL E

If after we have rested in the o ld house o f the Solitary above Blea Tarn we retrace o ur steps instead Of going o n to L angdale we can get into this region by taking the ancient hi ghway on which once travelled all the traffic between Kendal and the villages between that town and hi W tehaven . Indeed Whitehaven is a mushroom in growth compared with this ancient track . Probably long before Whitehaven was thought of it was the highway to the Roman Camp o r station at

Ambleside which Camden identifies , I believe

m l n A b o a a. rightly , as the Roman g

' R G E U ON V E . BIRK S B ID , D DD ALL Y T HE SCAWF E LL R ANGE 219

k famed in song . At Coc ley Beck where the u D ddon sweeps round southwards , we have Crinkle Crags to the north and Harter Fell

2240 — o f ( ) Birker Moor and the Valley the Esk , to the south-west ; directly before us is Hard Knott P assmg the road to Birker Bridge we ascend to Hard Knott Pass . From this point we have a grand view o f the wildest and most precipitous mountains o f L ake — —é S cawfe ll S cawfe ll di land , Pike imme ately

o f north it , Great End a little to the east Esk Hause (23 7 0) with Allen Crags B o wfe ll To the west lie the green valleys o f I rt the Esk , the Mite , and the in strange con trast to thi s great central meeting o f the barren

- - and desolate moors and mist haunted , rain soaked

s o f L and plintered peaks central akeland . From Wryn o se Pass the o ld Whitehaven track mounts the long brae to the Roman station o f

H rdk n o t a .

HAR D KN OT CAST L E

The castle o f Hardkn o t lies o n the bleak — heights about 1 20 feet from the road o n e o f the loneliest spots in England ; but there was no spot too remote for those wonderful people to

T HE SCAWF E L L R ANGE 221 In the Valley of the Esk there are two water falls worth seeing , especially Stanley Ghyll or

Gill , and Birker Force which rushes superbly through high granite crags . T o realise the wild beauty and the austerity o f these giant hills it is well to continue towards Boot and take the pony track that leads into Wast dale by the foot o f Great Gable (2949) then northward through Sty Head Pass and Sty Head

Gill to Borrowdale and Keswick . Sty Head 1 800 ( ) is the highest pass , I think , in England , unless we regard the road through the Nent

2 . Valley to Kirkhope as a pass . It reaches 045 ft Wast wat e r is the deepest of the lakes and is perhaps the most striking and impressive owing to the noble and sharp -pointed mountains lying at its head . Along o n e side of it lie the Screes filling the

o u t o f whole valley , and rising sheer the dark ll ll . S cawfe S cawfe water Beyond are and Pike , L l Great End , ing Mel and Great Gable , the dl latter gran y filling the head of the lake .

Y e wb arro w dl On the opposite side are , Mid e Fell and B ackb arro w Pike a veritable meeting

o f place the mountains .

It is a grim and barren spot , bleak , desolate , 222 WIL D L AKE L AND

the constant haunt o f rain - clouds which move

n majestically rou d the peaks all day , all night

changing ever into new and lovely forms . Forms

indeed , so grand and mystical , that the barren scenery is made more lovely than groves o f pine or acres o f heather and red bracken could have

made it . The View from S cawfe ll Pike is very extensive — ll Morecambe Bay , the Scottish hi s , Eskdale ,

o f ill Miter Dale , Borrowdale ; and h s Black

B o wfell L Combe , , Crinkle Crags , the angdales ,

F airfield B le n cat h ara , , Skiddaw , High Street ,

111 S t o n e t h wait e Bell , Sty Head , , Great End ,

Causey Pike , Maiden Mawr , Crummock , Grass m ll K irkfe ll L in m e ll oor , the Pi ar Rock , , g , Red

o f Pike . Also the Irish Sea , the Isle Man ,

Hin de rscart h ni , Robinson , Windermere , Co ston

n u o f Old Man and , i deed , a conf sion mountains such as we can see from no other spot in

L akeland .

o r From the Pike , Ennerdale Buttermere can be reached by Black Sail Pass o r by Crummock Water and Borrowdale or a way may be taken from the foot o f Crummock Water by the lovely vale Of Newlands to Keswick . In the central region round S cawfell little bird BLAC K SAI L PAS S

T HE SCAWF E LL R ANGE 223

i o ut l fe is seen , as has been pointed , and vegeta tion ceases save for the marvellously coloured lichens and alpine mosses with their gorgeous yellows and burnt siennas which heighten so much the weird and lovely scene .

I N D E !

e e s a G ee B i e L e 34 1 23 Ambl sid arti t, Willi m r n, ird l f in ak land , , ,

30 216, 217 G a e e R 22 B ea T t h e L e 133 r sm r oad , l arn and angdal s , t M e t h e B len cat h ara e t h e e Harrie artin au on pack , m aning of nam , o se o t o G s e e 109 160 h r r ad ra m r by , R a 5 5 B lo o maries o e s : B ackb arro w yd l Hall , (f rg ) st e s 56 o o e i e indu ri , bl mary r k ndl d during it s il - o s 1 5 t h e 20 grand h l t p , War, 7 it s e o s 1 5 e s e e 210 rich m ad w , in Furn ss usp nd d , Old C P R L e st t i hurch ath by ydal Hall , in ak Di rict da ng from 54 R e 20 oman tim s, 7 o ld o 54 B e e e S foot r ads, oot villag as a c ntr for caw o ld o s M 54 e 1 221 r ad , iss Armit on, f ll , 779 ’ S t at e sme n s e at 5 1 6 R e old hous s , , 7 its railway from av nglass, R R o M s o n 5 4 1 ydal ad , i s Armit , 77 some o f it s old S t at e smen B o rde rers (E nglish) their se cre t i e t h e B a t t e e t h e S fam li s, r i hwai s , fri ndship with cots, e t e e w s 1 2 Forr s rs , N ton , Jack 7

s s e t c . 63 65 B Mr. M n s e on , , , oundy , arti , di cov rs ’ t h e M o o e C e E nn rdal i an r H us on hap l e e s m ne ral we alth , 5 1 it s ne w o e 5 1 214 Hill , wn r, K irkst on e 24 s e e e to , his di cov ri s at Avondal and t o ls t e 164 Lo u Murra h a 214—215 Ul wa r, gh g , mb o lana t h e e e B o wfell 16 48 160 g , probabl Ambl , , , ” s e C e o n 21 B o o f E e id , amd n , 7 gr mont, grandson of t M £ n a I o n s e o u c n I . 10 Armi , iss , Amble id r ads , 7 and t at m r o 5 4 Mr. We st B e . G . o f o p hs , radl y, A , on ’ o n Ambleside s o ld t e s 56 o 68 indus ri , land f lk,

o n t h e o e e o f e B e R . A t h e e g v rnm nt Ambl raml y , Frank , . ( lat ) , e t h e S es e 65 fin e s e e sid by tat m n, his picture of Gra m r R sh rin u b ea g , 86 B e t h e 35 B r ok e i ft h 35 adg r, , o , m an ng o e word , B o B ere b runn e B rabins B e e e s 28-3 1 arb n, , roth rs Wat r, vi w from , m e e 1 06 1 0 R o C e 3 1 fa ily, d sc nt of, , 7 man amp abov , 29

INDE ! 227

G s e e t h e e o 15 ra m r , its plays in W st H und trail , 6 o e 78 es es m rland dial ct, Hous , W tmorland , 66 R ush b e arin e t l 9 its g F s iva , 7 i t s S e e e t h e e so . C T aint who r s mbl d Ibb t n , J artist , and rout ” K se 9 : ! ai r, 7 b e ck his lo st Mo rtal Man R ush b e arin e k S 194 1 5 g pictur by Fran ign, , 9

B e R . A. 86 Sir L raml y , , ionel Cust on h is high l e s e 81 e 1 vi lag indu tri s , m rits as an artist, 95 G ee t h e o f r n, William, illustrator t h e L e t hi s fine e ffe rie s R t h ak Dis rict, J , ichard , on e sacrifice s 30 1 14 t 34 39 draught manship , , , to trou , , ’ 1 15 B e B e 28 John ll s ann r, , 3 1 colle ction of hi s pictures fo r e e 195 K e nt i ern e o C s Ambl sid , g d dicati n at ro Grisedale F airfield e 1 1 8 , and Dolly thwait , P e 86 K e e e l e e waggon ik , ntm r vi lag , vi w of, 7 Gun nilda e t at K e t h e e e e , gr a e rand swick and D rw ntwat r f 1 16 daughte r o Ma colm I and family, C G E e e I I . : t f 1 13 th lr d descen o de Arts and rafts uild , R L s el e s Curw e e e t e s 11 osgill, a c l , en , its lit rary c l bri i , 7 and B 10 1 1 8 arbon from , 7 its patron saint , o e s e 108 r ad from Ambl id to , Hardkno t C s e 219 1 1 1 a tl , Hart so 26 3 1 o e 1 12-1 14 p Hall , , t wn and gard ns, e it s o e s 2 K irkst one P t e in b e vall y , w nd rful hill , 9 ass , bat l s , it s e 26 e e S E b auty , tw n cots and nglish , S ’ 2 24 inbad s lunch in, 6 v l e 3 1 s f 24 i lag , mo t di ficult climb to, s e e no t e t ul 23 Hawk h ad , an anci nt centre of b au if , i la e n s 3 - se 25 v l g i du try , 7 pack hor road , s at 1 hi n t h e I nn 24 Arami , 7 s fight i g , l e 0 e Caist on G e qua iti s , 7 vi w of, from l n, C 0 25 hurch , 7 E st h wait e e 4 Wat r, 7 et e o 3 L e Co 1 14 how to g hom fr m , 7 ak untry Illustrators , , e ee t 1 1 1 5 its anci nt str s, 7 e t h L e e e ffe 2 vi w from , on e walk to ak land , atmosph ric cts in, es e 4 2 Ambl id , 7 charm of, ’ o 1 e I n 2 9-12 W rdsworth s school at , 7 cloudscap s , , P e fine e 48 es 201 High ik , its outlin , industri , o t h e n e e ea ea H garth pai t r, birthplace p aks and h dlands , b uty o f 1 89 13 14 , of, , t h e o fT r ut k e es 35 49 109 1 66 Hogarth satirist o b ec , plac nam , , , , , 1 - - 86, 187 1 92 1 67 168 , 217, 218 190 in 2 his plays , rainfall , e o fh is t e 18 e e 1 Sit co tag , 9 und r wat r, t h e e l 1 5 w e 19-22 Hound , F l, 0 int r in, 228 WIL D L AKE L AND

’ La e a e it s Pe o sse ei t o k l nd s distinctiv charm at m s and th r forma i n, pale gree ns and ale russe t s 203 -205 c e est ~ Pen e C o n co n ompar d with High nin hain , c louri g of, 89 t rast e d 6 landpcolouring , , ’ e o e 1 5 9 Pe n Ga I n le bo ro 6 haunting m m ri s , y nt and g , l 3 4 142 P R 1 wild anima s , , illar ock , 7 L e t h e 133 P t h e e 145 angdal s , , ony , F ll , L e es l h e e P e n 41 asc ll fami y , t ir conn ction rior, H rma , L e s es with ak Di trict famili , 102 104 105 10 R e o e e t h e L e , , , 7 av n, nc pl ntiful in ak L e e o f E scr k t 34 descent of asc ll s y Dis rict, and Ra n lass as s n - from Malco lm I I . ve g a tarti g place for e 10 o Gun t h e S cawfell R 11 e 1 6 Alfr d , 7 ; thr ugh ang8 , 7 n 10 t e es 1 6 ilda , 7 its his oric int r t, 7 Mesc e R E t o B o o 1 Le h n, anulf, arl of its railway t, 77 Ro o ld o I n L el n ads , r ads ak and , ew l i E C e e 1 m e o f 5 Wi l am , arl of h st r, 77 i portanc , 7

L e s 1 21 Mr. Geo e M e 5 e ad p ncil indu try , rg iddl ton on, 7, L a K e 1 21 58 59 o dore , cat ract of, swick , , , 22 R e at G e 1 oth ry , family , r ta Hall , K e 1 21 swick, aint e r e R dal e e e 61 Martin, John, , his pictur y vall y , its gr at b auty , e n e hi 62 said to pai t d from its lls, e 196 Scandal , M n e n P e S O Ki Pen ou s y family , ki gs of att r aint swald , and ng da of ! 1 1 -1 2 Me 80 dal , 7 7 rcia, s e Cast e e e t e e z e Munca t r l , its form r sh l r d and bapti d at Iona, w Me s e de Mult on 9 o ners , ch n, , 7 de L 1 e o e e 80 and ucy , 77 tri s to c nqu r Wal s ,

S e e Mr. R e att rthwait , og r, of N h o f ew o l es e e ort , family, N t n Hal , Ambl id , his bird fri nds, and t h e B rabins of Whitting 1 23 t on e w and e 106 e t h e e , N ton, Dock r, a mast r of W stmorland e 1 23 dial ct, O e - 33 38 S c e Caist o n G e ew tt r hunting, , andal and l n, vi 44 from , P - se o E nd E n d 40 ack hor roads at No k and Nook , B e e e 53 54 55 P t e e 41 ridg , Ambl sid , , , and a t rdal road , T t e 6 53 t h e e i e 41 at rou b ck , , burn , road b s d it, f K e t o t e e fin e e t h e 48 4 rom ndal Whi hav n, by vi ws of hills from, , 9 Wr n o se P s 21 218 il 40 y as , 7, H l, in Kirkst o ne P 6 - e ass , pack hors track and bridge , in L e 6 52 53 ak land , , Garburn P s 8 P o on ea 41 to a s , ri r b uty of, P e e G e i 165 S cawfell it s et att rdal and l nridd ng , district, frugal s ting P e e t h e n 1 1-1 2 o t a 1 5 att rdal , ki gs of, 7 7 a c n r st , Pe - t t n 201 i e 1 6 1 18 at cu i g, p nnacl s , , 7, ' I NDE x

S cawf ll Ra e 216 T e con td. e ng , routb ck ( ) S ee - als 1 53 e C 199 h p do tri , and J nkin rag , o n L o Th e M Man e o . . C . a Sk lt n, r W , his book st sign of ort l , h t 144-146 193 t e Co niston Hun , , S kel ill Ro o 1 i 1 58 g man r ad , 99 ; t s e K es 1 21 fin e e 200 South y at wick, vi ws , S e me e i e Mr o e 1 21 e . his h us , tat s n, th ir priv l g s , L i o N elson 1 1 Ge e G t e 63 64 his fe f , 7 org a y on, , wi e 3 2 40 153 Sport and ld natur , , , t es e t h e o ld 64 65 Ul e G e Bi ddin S at m n, , , lswat r and l n g , bi e 1 64 bo ught up by g landown rs, e el 16 65 and H lv lyn, 7

e VI . t h e S e e it s e es 166 Jam s and tat sm n, and plac nam , 4 e n es 1 68 6 its l ad mi , Ge e G e o n t h e Mr. org at y

rivile es o f e s e ms e Mr. C e his ll g Ambl id and Wal l y , harl s , i us r ut be ck S e e 63 64 t rat e d t e o n t h e B z z o tat sm n , , ar icl u ard G l e 21 t h e L e s t 21 Stock i l Forc , in ak Di tric , 7 S o f t h e Lo C Co m l e o ld e o se wans ndon ity fami y , th ir Dow r h u ani es 12 o n C e l e e p , 7 hap l Hi l , Ambl sid , S winside e e 5 1 6 and its Druidical t mpl , , 7 1 so S ir i li e 77 Wat n, W l am , his hous at k l i 1 S e g ll, 97 Talle b ois de B K e ndal his e 19 -198 , Ivo , aron of , lin s onWordsworth , 7 ’ o o f L e K n e Mr. o n K e l l rd ak land , i gsl y s J h , of nda , his boo k 104 o n 3 -89 fancy portrait of, fishing , 7 ’ his descendants in t h e L ake dis Wordsworth s description of B le a t rict 104-10 T 13 , 7 arn, 9 T e e B le ncat h ara 108 E x 1 39 hirlm r and , cursion, T e e Sir L ce o t h e s 1 hr lk ld , an l , how chool, 7 shelt e red t h e She pherd Lo rd Wryn o se Pass and t h e Ro man C ffo 169 C Hardkn ot 21 li rd , amp at , 7 T t h e e 36-39 e t e 21 rout, sacrific to, and W s dal , 7 T e a e 18 Hardkn o t C e 219 it s routb ck, Adam W lk r of, 7, astl , ; mili 188 e t o t h e R s 220 tary valu oman , B i e l 1 88 rk t fami y of, B o w e Of T w E nd Y anwit h t h e T el e s r n family o n , Hall and hr k ld , 189 169

T HE E ND

’

P rin t ed in Grea t B rzt a rn é R . R . C A K E D E din bur h . y L R , LIMIT , g

E NGLISH LAKES ’ (T h e Artist s Sketch B oo k S erie s) R H ME B Y GO DON O . M CON T AINING 1 6 R E PRO D U CT IONS FRO PE N CIL DRAWIN GS . E D E M 8VO T H T T C C E E E SQ UAR Y , WI AR IS I OV R B ARING A LAB L D E D B T HE T T E SIGN Y AR IS . d B ost 25 . . c 2s 6d. net . P ri e . ( y p , 9 )

E NGLISH LAKES POS T CARDS

’ I n B lack s Po st Card Se ries o f B ritish Design

an d Manufact u re .

E S E E 6 D . B E T F R D CT C RI S 5, , AN 7 AU I UL PRO U IONS IN OLOUR

E T C PE R . FROM PI CT UR E S BY A. H A ON OO

ce d er acket o six cards P ri 9 p p f .

A N A T UR E AN THOL OG Y

T HE CALL OF T HE OPE N

R T E L L . S E LE CT E D AN D E D IT E D BY L E ONA D H. S OW

C 8VO C T H C T I 6 F - E T T ROWN , LO , ON AINING ULL PAG ILLUS RA IONS IN

C D E C T E E D E R D T T CT E CT E C E T . OLOUR , ORA IV N PAP S , AN A RA IV PI UR JA K

B ost s d P rice r. net . . . s ( y p , 5 5 )

T o plac e ye t ano t he r Ant ho logy o n t h e alre ady crowde d

e t e e e le e e in it s e t T h e t t mark r quir s consid rab confid nc m ri s . ru h

13 o e e t t art lst ic and i - l ss o t o e , h w v r, ha h gh c a pr duc i n, combin d

WI t h li t e e t e e ss w111 l s find e e e rary m ri and ch apn , a way a r ady r c p t o o o - e s an d I t is t e t t t e t h e i n among b k lov r , his consid ra ion ha l ads

l w i le lo pub ishe rs t o ant i cipat e succe ss fo r t h e ir n e ve nt ure . Wh co ur ll t t l an o t t e t e o f t h e t t t e t I us ra ions wi l form imp r an f a ur a rac iv forma , t h e inclusio n o f a c o nsid e rable amo unt o f co pyright mat t e r w111 add co n S I de I ab l t o t h e li t e l e o f t h e o ll b e o t o y rary va u bo k, which wi f und

e e an e l e t n i o fo r t h e e t h e e s rv as id a pock compa n lov r of op n air.

PUB I I S HE D BY H W. I . C . B L CK L T D . 6 S S R E L . A A . , 4, 5, O O Q UA , ONDON, OTHE R B OOK S ON THI S D I S TR I C T

E NGLISH LAKE S (B e autiful B ritain S erie s)

E C E D R ME D S RIB BY GO DON HO .

T E D E T C PE R . ILLUST RA BY A. H A ON OO

C T 1 2 F - E T T I N C ON AINING ULL PAG ILLUS RA IONS OLOUR. U E D E M V I N T E SQ AR Y 8 0 ART IS I C COV R . d P rice 5 . net . B ost . 3 ( y p , 5 )

o P n o ns o f r S me re ss Opi i th e S e ies.

T he are de li ht l o l mes ch at t il wri t t e n and ll st rat e d Wit h all t h e y g fu v u , y . i u ri ch co lo rin fo r hi ch t h e firm i s st l amo s -B st ande r u g w Ju y f u y .

' ' mar e l fart t c e a ne — k s T ave lle r s Gaz et t e T h e se rie s i s a o is i ch ss. Coo r v p .

E NGLISH LAKE S (Q uotation and Pict ure S eries)

B Y B . R E L S B . A. YNO D ,

E DE M 8V T T C C E SQ UAR Y O IN AR IS I OV R .

Pric 25 6d. n et ost 23 d e . . B . . ( y p , 9 )

T hi s o l me co nsist s o f 1 6 colo re d V i e s Of laces wit h descri t io ns Of t h e v u u w p , p same sce nes by po e t s o rwell- kno wn aut ho rs arrange d o ppo si t e t h e V i ews t o whi ch t he re e r y f . T h e V i e s ha e b e e n sele ct e d Wit h re ard at o nce t o t he ir int ri nsi c b e a t w v g u y , re rese nt at i e charact e r and t h e a ailab le o t at i o ns Of li t e rar no t e descri t i e p v , v qu y p v o ft he m T h e o t at io ns h a e b e e n dra n ro m a Wide ran e o fa t h o rs t ho u h qu v w f g u , g whe n a fe w wri t e rs are spe cially asso ciat ed Wit h a dist ri ct se ve ral may be give n r m t h me t ho r f o e sa au .

E NGLISH LAKE S (Water Colour S erie s)

B Y E T C PE R . A. H A ON OO

T 1 6 T T I C ON AINING ILLUS RA IONS N C OLOUR . E D E M 8VO I N T T E SQ UAR Y AR IS IC COV R .

rice d ne t st 2 d P 6 . . B a 5 . ( y p , . 9 )

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E D T E D G R ME I BY O DON HO .

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d n et B t P rice 23 . 6 . . as 2s ( y p , .

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