|
|
|
|
|
|
|
title page |
|
|
|
|
|
previous page
next page |
|
|
|
Page 91:-
|
book 3
chapter 1
|
|
|
road, Bassenthwaite Lake
|
|
BOOK THIRD.
ROAD to BASSENTHWAITE.
CHAP. I.
Portingsgill, -- Ullock, -- Brathwaite Charities, --
Brathwaite Brow, -- Thornthwaite, -- Height of the two
Mountains Helveylin and Skiddow, -- Lead Mines, -- Wood-end,
-- Wythop, -- Ouzebridge.
|
Portinscale
|
|
WE will now proceed towards Bassenthwaite. Leaving
Keswick, we come to the little village of
Portingsgill, which we pass, and then ascending a
little hill, we have an excellent view of Bassenthwaite or
Broad-Water. Here is an old oak on the left-hand side of the
road which will serve to mark a station for the painter: the
right side is closed by the steepest side of Skiddow, burnt
by the sun into a beautiful reddish brown; in the centre is
Powter-How, belonging to Mr Stanger; a large white
building, beautifully contrasted by the verdure of the trees
under which it stands: the left is closed by the dark blue
mountains above Thornthwaite, which rise out of fields of
corn and pasturage, spotted here and there with wood.
Farther distant is the Lake, intersected and varied with
promontories and creeks; nearest to the eye it is broad,
then it contracts almost to a river, then again it expands,
and is at last lost before the houses at Ouzebridge and
Armathwaite. The farthest distance closes very well with
rising grounds, fringed with verdant hedges, and here and
there interspersed with plumps of trees. Towards the East is
likewise a tolerable landscape: Mr Guy Head drew it, but I
cannot think it deserved the admiration he bestowed upon it;
however, in this the traveller must judge for himself; for
so numerous are the landscapes which deserve to be taken,
that we need not wonder if different persons form different
opinions of them.
|
Ullock
|
|
Hard by is Ullock; the seat of J. Radcliff, Esq; a
descendant of the Derwentwater family; he is the last that I
know of in this country, and has no children; so that the
name may probably become extinct; for James the last Earl of
Derwentwater, (who was beheaded in 1716,) had only one son
and one daughter; the son died unmarried, and the daughter
married Lord Petre.
|
Braithwaite etc
charities
|
|
We next come to Great Brathwaite, a pretty village.
This place and Thornthwaite are remarkable for producing the
best fruit in Cumberland. A stranger would here imagine
himself at his journey's end; the road winds in between two
mountains in such a manner that no one can perceive its
course.
The tenants here are all customary, one only excepted.
Formerly the poor in these northern parts were extremely
distressed; on this account many charities have been given
them, by people born in the neighbourhood who had acquired
large fortunes. There is not a town or village but what has
had two or three donations, (a thing I before forgot to take
notice of, and which does credit to the natives) from those
who in
|
|
their
|
|
|
|
gazetteer links
|
|
-- "Great Braithwaite" -- Braithwaite
|
|
-- "Portingsill" -- Portinscale
|
|
-- (station, Ullock)
|
|
-- "Thornthwaite" -- Thornthwaite
|
|
-- "Ullock" -- Ullock
|
|
|
|
|
|
next page |
|
|
|
|
|
|