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

button title page
button previous page button next page
Page 153:-
tried the same experiment, but was unable (on account of the tree's growth) to embrace it by three inches. This beautiful "son of the forest" is not of above sixty years standing; its bole is about forty-five feet high, perfectly straight and clear of branch or knot; its head is a verdant hemisphere, whose form is no farther broken than is sufficient to make it picturesque, and its intrinsic value is upwards of fifty pounds. I must remark, that among the singularities of this vicinity, the ground being the property of one person, and the wood (in many places) of another, is worthy our notice: I must likewise add, that the lands here are generally held by the curtesy of England, which I am scarce lawyer enough to understand. If a woman is possessed of any of these lands, and marries, the estate becomes her husband's for life, whether she dies having issue or not, even if he marries again. And if a man dies possessed of such an estate, leaving a widow, the widow holds the whole during her natural life, though she marries again. This was an act of the Queen Elizabeth, as the title deeds set forth, but on what occasion I cannot find.
  Kirkstone Pass
  Brothers Water

If the traveller wishes to return by way of Penrith, it may be done from Ambleside, the distance is 23 miles; two miles and three quarters of which, from Ambleside, is very steep, though carriages may travel upon it without much difficulty. Before we come to the top of Kirkstone, we see on the right hand, at a small distance, several cairns, one of them remarkably large, but upon what occasion they were raised we have no tradition; the place where they are situated is called Woundale, but what is the signification or derivation of that name I am unable to determine. Having reached the top of Kirkstone, we again enter Patterdale; here is a curious view (of the bird's-eye kind,) down a Glen or Gulph of great depth, eight or nine miles. The road is down this Glen, very pleasant and good, between amazing high mountains, which strike the traveller with more awe than any he will as yet have seen; their sides are more perpendicular and rugged than any other I have seen of equal height, and under them we are obliged to travel, as both sides are alike. Here are rock upon rock, precipice above precipice, some fixed, others like to tumble down on each side of you; there is no where more than the breadth of the road between them, sometimes not so much, as it now and then takes the side of the mountains, accompanied by a rivulet which runs rapidly down its uneven bed, foaming and bounding from place to place: This brook, being augmented by several little springs, forms a pretty large runner before it falls into Broadwater, called by some Brotherwater, a lake, about half a mile long, and near as much broad, close on the side of which we pass. The traveller when coming down Kirkstone will be surprised to find trout in the brook to the very top of it; and indeed I am astonished how the fishes can spring from a pool up a rock five feet high, into another bason above, and so on, from pool to pool; but that they do so is certain, always endeavouring to get as near the head of a stream as they can to lay their spawn; and in the fence months, (or spawning time,) I have seen them throw themselves up against the rock, tumble down again, try again, fall upon the dry ground, sometimes regain the water, and sometimes perish in the attempt. At that time of the year you likewise see more kites and other birds of prey, fly about these brooks than any other, as I suppose to seize the fish that have missed their leap and fallen on the banks of the stream, and unable to regain their element. - Oh, Nature! what a desire in thee to propagate thy species, even to hazarding of life! Trout and salmon only wish to lay their spawn as near the head of a stream as they possibly can. Salmon come to the foot of Ulswater to spawn, but never enter it. Grey trout and others leave Ulswater and come to the foot of this Lake, but never enter it. Salmon never enter Derwentwater, but pass the foot of it, and leave Keswick several miles, following the streams in a flood as far as they can, and return with another flood.
  Hartsop Hall
A little above the Lake, on the other side, is Hartsop-hall, a farm house of Earl Lonsdale, who hath a small manor here called Hartsop, it is part of the barony of Kendale. In Broadwater, or Brotherwater, two young men, (brothers) were drowned together in December 1785, by the ice breaking under them. The inhabitants have a tradition that
it
gazetteer links
button -- "Broadwater" -- Brothers Water
button -- Kirkstone Beck
button -- Ambleside to Kirkstone Pass
button -- Kirkstone to Patterdale
button -- "Low Wood" -- Wood Farm
button -- "Woundale" -- Woundale
button next page

button to main menu Lakes Guides menu.