button to main menu  Clarke's Survey of the Lakes, 1787

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Page 92:-
their affluence did not forget their distressed neighbours, who were so frequently plundered of everything they had.
One Peter Uldale, born at this place, left 4l. 11s. 4d. to be distributed as follows; 3s. and 8d. each, to twelve poor people of Great Brathwaite, five of Little Brathwaite, Portingsgill, and Ullock, and three of Thornthwaite; to be distributed every year on Candlemas day, and to paid out of certain of his lands in Essex. This was not very well paid by Mr Uldale's representatives; whereupon Mr Lowry, Vicar of Crossthwaite, in 1681 brought an action against them, and recovered about thirty pounds Sterling; the interest of which is distributed by the Vicar and Trustees on the same day. Such charities as these now-a-days only relieve the parish at large. Pity such should be enjoyed by the rich! they were meant for the poor. Charities are not now so valuable as they were formerly, since the Legislature has made such excellent laws for their maintenance.
  Braithwaite Brow
  Skiddaw, height
  Helvellyn, height

I could now wish the traveller to ascend Brathwaite Brow, to a little above the house on the road-side, (see plate VII.); here is a bird's-eye view of the vale of Keswick, which exceeds, in my opinion, all others; here you have Thornthwaite just at your feet, yet near 300 yards perpendicular below you; you see the full bulk of every field, (divided as in the plan,) as if hovering over it in a balloon; you likewise see the town and the whole vale of Keswick, (as it is called) with part of the lake; the serpentine roads ascending the hills of Castrigg, towards Ambleside and Penrith; all the houses and inclosures under Skiddow; all the vale of Bassenthwaite, with its lake; the whole of plate VII. as if close to your eye. From here you see at once perhaps the two highest mountains in England, viz. Skiddow and Helveylin. I took the perpendicular height of Skiddow from Bassenthwaite Lake and made it 1156 yards. A Mr Drape of Whitehaven and I happening another time to meet at Ouzebridge, at the foot of Bassenthwaite, took it again, and made it 1160 yards; I suppose we were pretty near right. Helveylin I took from Ulswater, and made it 1245; so that I think, if I had ever taken their height from the same place, Helveylin would be the highest. I once had a telescope and spirit-level upon Helveylin, and then thought it the highest.
If any of the curious should go to see Buttermere, and return by way of Lorton, this noble amphitheattre (and the most noble it is of any I ever saw,) may be seen without going out of the way; as this is the road between Lorton and Keswick: otherwise I would advise the tourist to go back to Brathwaite, and take the road to Thornthwaite; for though there is a road from this station to Thornthwaite in at Lonin-Foot, yet it is so steep you cannot ride down it.
  Thornthwaite
Thornthwaite is a long rambling village, as may be seen in the plan; the soil near the houses is very rich, but towards Derwent the ground is wet and boggy. All along Thornthwaite there are very good orchards, in which fruit-trees thrive exceeding well, and bear plentifully. Here is a small chapel under Crossthwaite, and the lands are mostly customary under the Earl of Egremont, as part of his honour of Cockermouth Castle.
  lead mines
There are at present a few men employed in the lead mines close to the road. These mines have no particular names that I know of, but are near places called Jenkin Hill and Walker Yates; they have been only lately discovered, and are not valuable. We now, at Beck Sands, see a very rugged barren mountain on the left, for which the ignorant rustics have no name; it is covered with large loose stones, which seem as if they were ready to fall from its sides. on the right is Powter-How, a pretty building, situated under a hill covered with oaks; these shelter it entirely from the northern blasts, and the front commands an elegant south view of the impending mountains; a view to which the low situation of the house gives additional grandeur, by increasing the apparent height of the surrounding hills.
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gazetteer links
button -- Barf
button -- "Beck Sands" -- Beckstones
button -- "Great Braithwaite" -- Braithwaite
button -- (lead mine, Thornthwaite)
button -- "Powter How" -- Powter How
button -- "Thornthwaite" -- Thornthwaite
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