- Blencathra from Sosgill Bridge ©Andrew Locking

Thirlmere

Although relatively small in size, the is the most obvious of these but the Valley and the reservoir continues to valley of Thirlmere, formerly known as dam infrastructure itself is considered supply around 11% of the water demand Wythburn, is dominated by its large to be of historic value. It was the first of the North West of England. reservoir and its looming, steep-sided ever masonry gravity dam and one of . The bulk of Hellvellyn hangs only two arch dams in England and it But despite the defeat, the battle was impressively over its eastern edge with supplies Manchester with water via a a significant moment in the history the mighty Skiddaw and Blencathra to 96-mile long underground aqueduct. of the conservation movement, both the north. Dunmail Raise to the south Other industries to impact Thirlmere in the UK and globally. It inspired the of Thirlmere is considered to be the were copper and lead mining as well as formation of the National Trust and it boundary between the north and south slate quarrying. brought to a head the appreciation . The famous cairn at the of the vulnerability of the Lake District summit of Dunmail Raise is said to be Thirlmere’s history tells the story of a landscape, and public access to it. the burial place of King Dunmail, the last politicised landscape preservation Thirlmere is also greatly important to the monarch of the medieval kingdom of movement, where the struggle between Romantic writers’ and artists’ movement , dating to around 945AD. natural beauty and industry was tested on a national scale for the very first and was the location for the ‘Rock of One of the best-known Lakeland time. The Thirlmere Defence Association Names’ - the customary meeting point archaeological sites is the stone circle formed in 1877 to oppose the flooding for the Wordsworths and Samuel Taylor at Castlerigg, just to the east of Keswick, of the valley and the creation of the Coleridge, and now reconstructed and which probably dates to Neolithic reservoir. Visionaries such as Canon relocated to Dove Cottage in Grasmere. times and sits in the dramatic natural Rawnsley and the social reformer Thirlmere was also the inspiration amphitheatre formed by the surrounding Octavia Hill, influenced by the philosophy for William Wordsworth’s poem ‘The fells. There are also good examples of of John Ruskin, joined the fight. But Waggoner’ and Walter Scott’s poem Neolithic rock art at Steel End and a Parliament voted in favour of the ‘The Bridal of Triermain’ and a place that Bronze Age ring cairn on Armboth . Manchester Corporation Water Works continues to inspire visitors to this day. and the thirsty, fast-growing urban Today, it is the physical aspects of the population in Manchester, and the dam water industry that stand out in the was built. Today, United Utilities owns main valley. The Thirlmere reservoir 4,700 hectares of land in the Thirlmere

lakesworldheritage.co.uk #WeAreTheLakes