Old Cumbria Gazetteer - Styhead Tarn, Borrowdale

Styhead Tarn, Borrowdale

runs into:-

Styhead Gill

Styhead Tarn

locality:-

Sty Head

civil parish:-

Borrowdale (formerly Cumberland)

county:-

Cumbria

locality type:-

tarn

coordinates:-

NY22170986 (etc)

1Km square:-

NY2209

10Km square:-

NY20

altitude:-

1430 feet

altitude:-

436m

BRM73.jpg (taken 14.9.2009)
photograph

BPF45.jpg (taken 20.5.2008)

evidence:-

old map:- OS County Series (Cmd 74 8)
placename:- Styhead Tarn

source data:-

Maps, County Series maps of Great Britain, scales 6 and 25 inches to 1 mile, published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton, Hampshire, from about 1863 to 1948.

evidence:-

old map:- Donald 1774 (Cmd)
placename:- Sparkling Tarn

source data:-

Map, hand coloured engraving, 3x2 sheets, The County of Cumberland, scale about 1 inch to 1 mile, by Thomas Donald, engraved and published by Joseph Hodskinson, 29 Arundel Street, Strand, London, 1774.

D4NY20NW.jpg
"Sparkling Tarn"
lake
item:- Carlisle Library : Map 2
Image © Carlisle Library

evidence:-

old map:- West 1784 map
placename:- Sparkling Tarn

source data:-

Map, hand coloured engraving, A Map of the Lakes in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, engraved by Paas, 53 Holborn, London, about 1784.

Ws02NY20.jpg
item:- Armitt Library : A1221.1
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old print:- Wilkinson 1810 (plate 43)
placename:- Stye Head Tarn
item:- fishing

source data:-

Print, uncoloured soft ground etching, Stye Head Tarn, with Aron, or Great End , above Borrowdale, Cumberland, by Joseph Wilkinson, engraved by William Frederick Wells, published by R Ackermann, Repository of Arts, 101 Strand, London, 1810.

click to enlarge
WKN143.jpg
Plate 43 in Select Views in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire.
printed at bottom left, right, centre:- "The Revd. Jos: Wilkinson delt. / W. F. Wells Sculpt. / Stye-head Tarn, with Aron, or Great-End, above Borrowdale / Publish'd April 1. 1810. by R. Ackermann. 101. Strand. London."
item:- Fell and Rock Climbing Club : MN4.43
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old print:- Green 1815
placename:- Sty Head Tarn

source data:-

Print, coloured aquatint, Sty Head Tarn, Borrowdale, Cumberland, by William Green, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1815.

click to enlarge
GN0544.jpg
Plate 48 in Lake Scenery.
printed at upper right:- "48"
printed at bottom:- "STY HEAD TARN. / Published at Ambleside, June 1, 1815, by Wm. Green."
item:- Armitt Library : A6646.44
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old map:- Otley 1818

source data:-

Map, uncoloured engraving, The District of the Lakes, Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, by Jonathan Otley, 1818, engraved by J and G Menzies, Edinburgh, Scotland, published by Jonathan Otley, Keswick, Cumberland, et al, 1833.

OT02NY20.jpg
Drawn at:- "Sty Hd."
item:- JandMN : 48.1
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old print:- Fielding and Walton 1821 (plate 27)
placename:- Sty Head Tarn

source data:-

Print, coloured aquatint, Sty Head Tarn, Top of Sty Head, Borrowdale, Cumberland, drawn by Theodore H A Fielding, published by R Ackermann, 101 Strand, London, 1821.

click to enlarge
FW0127.jpg
Tipped in opposite p.193 in A Picturesque Tour of the English Lakes.
item:- Dove Cottage : 1993.R566.27
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

descriptive text:- Otley 1823 (5th edn 1834)
placename:-  Styhead Tarn
placename:-  Sparkling Tarn
item:-  fishing

source data:-

Guide book, A Concise Description of the English Lakes, the mountains in their vicinity, and the roads by which they may be visited, with remarks on the mineralogy and geology of the district, by Jonathan Otley, published by the author, Keswick, Cumberland now Cumbria, by J Richardson, London, and by Arthur Foster, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, 1823; published 1823-49, latterly as the Descriptive Guide to the English Lakes.

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Page 37:- "... Sty-head Tarn, in some maps called Sparkling Tarn, lies about three quarters of a mile below the last, near the road to Wasdale. The water, which it receives from Sprinkling Tarn, seems to have been deprived of its nutritive qualities; as its fish are of a very inferior kind. The stream running from thence towards Seathwaite, has some fine frothy breaks, and one grand waterfall, before it reaches the bottom of [the vale.]"

evidence:-

old map:- Ford 1839 map
placename:- Sparkling Tarn

source data:-

Map, uncoloured engraving, Map of the Lake District of Cumberland, Westmoreland and Lancashire, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, published by Charles Thurnam, Carlisle, and by R Groombridge, 5 Paternoster Row, London, 3rd edn 1843.

FD02NY21.jpg
"Sparkling Tarn"
Outline?
item:- JandMN : 100.1
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old text:- Miller 1847
placename:- Stye Head Tarn
item:- rain gauge; rainfall

source data:-

Book, Report on the Fall of Rain in the Lake Districts of Cumberland and Westmoreland in 1846, by John Fletcher Miller, printed by G Irwin, Lowther Street, Whitehaven, Cumberland, 1847.

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Page 4:- "Note. The Lake district Gauges are five inches in diameter; they are all of the same construction, and are elevated about eighteen inches above the surface. The funnel rims are of stout sheet brass, so that the apertures cannot readily lose their circular form. The Metres were all made by Bate of the Poultry, London. - The Rain is read off daily at 9 A.M."
"..."

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Page 8:-

MI02Tab3.jpg

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Page 9:- "REMARKS ON MOUNTAIN GAUGES."
"The Mountain Gauges are on pretty much the same construction as those in the vallies, but the receivers are much more capacious, being calculated to hold nearly 80 inches of Rain."
"..."
"... The Gauge near Stye Head Tarn, is on the Shoulder of Great Gabel, at the eastern extremity of the vale: ..."
"... the whole of the instruments are freely exposed to the action of wind and rain, from almost every point of the compass."
"..."

			INCHES.
The Valley,	160	feet above the sea, has received	71.24
Stye Head,	1290		76.24
Seatollar,	1334		77.85
Sparkling Tarn,	1900		91.15
Great Gabel,	2925		64.69
Sca Fell,	3166		56.35

evidence:-

old map:- Garnett 1850s-60s H
placename:- Styhead Tarn

source data:-

Map of the English Lakes, in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, 1850s-60s.

GAR2NY21.jpg
"Styhead T."
outline with shore form lines, lake or tarn
item:- JandMN : 82.1
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old text:- Martineau 1855

source data:-

Guide book, A Complete Guide to the English Lakes, by Harriet Martineau, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, and by Whittaker and Co, London, 1855; published 1855-76.

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Page 152:- "... the little clear rippling lake, where the mountaineer throws himself down to rest on the bank, when heated by the ascent from the vales. He has found"

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Page 153:- "everything sunny and dry, perhaps; but here he sees, by the minute diamond drops resting thick on the grass, that a cloud has lately stooped from its course, and refreshed the verdure in this retreat. It looks very tempting - this bright sheet of water; but no creature now comes to drink, unless a sheep may have strayed far from the flock, and in its terror may yet venture to stoop to the water, with many a start and interval of listening, till, at the faint sound of the distant sheep dog, it bounds away. The solitude is almost equally impressive whether the traveller comes up from the one dale or the other; ... The rill from Sprinkling Tarn is close by, and it leads to this Sty Head Tarn, where the boars used to come to drink. ..."

evidence:-

old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s

source data:-

Photograph, sepia, Sty Head, Nether Wasdale and Borrowdale, Cumberland, by Herbert Bell, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s?

click to enlarge
HB0344.jpg
Looking across Styhead Tarn down to Derwent Water.
item:- Armitt Library : ALPS710
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

outline view:- Jenkinson 1875
placename:- Sty Head Tarn

source data:-

Print, lithograph, outline view, Panoramic Sketches from Scawfell Pike, Cumberland, by Edwin A Pettitt, London, published by Edward Stanford, 55 Charing Cross, London, 1875.

evidence:-

old print:- Prior 1865
placename:- Sty Head Tarn

source data:-

Print, uncoloured engraving, Sty Head Tarn, Scafell Pike, and Scafell, in Borrowdale and in Eskdale, Cumberland, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, and by Simpkin, Marshall and Co, London, 1865.

click to enlarge
PI0106.jpg
Included on page 39 of the guide book, Ascents and Passes in the Lake District of England, by Herman Prior.
printed at bottom:- "STY HEAD TARN, SCAFELL PIKE, AND SCAFELL."
item:- JandMN : 235.8
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

outline view:- Tattersall 1836 (version 1869)
placename:- Stye Head Tarn

source data:-

Print, hand coloured, Stye Head Tarn, Cumberland, drawn by George Tattersall, 1836, engraved by W F Topham, published by T J Allman, 463 Oxford Street, London, 1869.

click to enlarge
TAT213.jpg
Included in The Lakes of England, by W F Topham.
printed at bottom:- "STYE HEAD TARN."
printed at bottom:- "Stye Head. / Great End. / Scawfell Pike. / Lingmell. / Great Gavel."
item:- Armitt Library : A1067.13
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

outline view:- Tattersall 1836
placename:- Stye Head Tarn
item:- heron

source data:-

Print, engraving, Stye Head Tarn, Borrowdale, Cumberland, drawn by George Tattersall, engraved by W F Topham, published by Sherwood and Co, Paternoster Row, London, about 1836.

click to enlarge
TAT131.jpg
The print is captioned with mountain names and acts as an outline view.
Tipped in opposite p.78 of The Lakes of England, by George Tattersall.
printed at bottom:- "STYE HEAD TARN. / London Pubd. April 15th. 1836, by Sherwood &Co."
printed at bottom left to right:- "Stye Head. / Great End. / Scawfell Pikes. / Lingmell. / Great Gavel."
item:- Armitt Library : A1204.32
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old print:- Rose 1832-35
placename:- Sty Head Tarn

source data:-

Print, engraving, Sty Head Tarn, Cumberland, by Thomas Allom, engraved by A le Petit, 1833.

BNM90.jpg (taken 4.4.2007)
photograph

BQO13.jpg (taken 12.5.2009)

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