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Brownrigg Well, St John's Castlerigg etc
runs into:-    Whelpside Gill

Brownrigg Well
Whelpside Gill Spring
civil parish:-   St John's Castlerigg and Wythburn (formerly Cumberland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   spring
coordinates:-   NY33791506
1Km square:-   NY3315
10Km square:-   NY31
SummaryText:-   300 yards W of the trig point.
SummaryText:-   also drained into a leat

evidence:-   old map:- OS County Series (Cmd 71 9) 
placename:-  Brownrigg Well
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 text:- Gents Mag
item:-  poemRemembrance of the Refreshment received from a Spring near the Summit of Helvellyn
source data:-   Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922.
image G7920941, button  goto source
Gentleman's Magazine 1792 p.941  "VERSES,"
"Begun on the Spot, and since finished, in Remembrance of the Refreshment received from a Spring near the Summit of HELVEYLIN, August 2, 1792."
"THE full-orb'd moon o'er Loughrigg* fell†
Ting'd the rough crag with golden spell
At the approach of morn;
No cloud the lofty cliffs o'erhung,
No breath of wind refreshing sung
Through the upstanding corn."
"O'er mountains high, to valleys deep,
And higher still, and still more steep,
We brush'd the early dew.
Toil wet the brow; the beauties round
Lessen'd the labour of the ground,
And spurr'd us to pursue."
"Beneath our feet, upon a hill,
We saw the parent of a gill‡
Entomb'd in mountains drear.
My Mentor urg'd me to go on -
"Leave, leave the tempting draught alone,
For danger lurketh there.""
"Again we toil'd - a steep ascent§
Made me with parched tongue repent
I had not dar'd to try."
"*The head of the Ambleside valley from the Salutation inn."
" †A barren, and sometimes a ragged, hill."
"‡A small water from a tarn, so called from its being less than a lake; this was of amazing depth, and was skirted by Seat Sandal and two other steep mountains."
"§Grisdale Pike."

evidence:-   old text:- Gents Mag 1792
source data:-   image G7920942, button  goto source
Gentleman's Magazine 1792 p.942  "The choice was past - yet through the toil
The eye was pleasur'd all the while,
And cover'd many a sigh."
"Ye Naiads of the brooks so gay,
That on the crystal surface play
Invisible to all;
When you retire beneath the Deep,
May you in peaceful caverns sleep,
Lull'd by the cataract's fall!"
"Or of on airy wing you fly,
Attend the cleaving, tirsty sigh,
To mountains bend your way;
Exert your powers, and from below
Enforce some hidden fount to flow
T' assuage the heat of day."
"Helveylin's height at last we gain'd,
And, panting for relief, remain'd
To mark th' extension round;
Then down with lighter pace we bent;
A spring! - the clearest Heav'n e'er sent -
I kiss'd the moisten'd ground."
"Eager I drew the cooling stream,
And all fatigue was gone - a dream!
Helveylin's praise to sing:
Thy carpet was the liveliest green,
Thy steep the swiftest*I have seen,
All owing to thy spring."
"They prospects are beyond compare;
Mountains, and dales, and lakes, appear,
And Ocean bounds the whole;
They bubbling was the sweetest sound
That ever tinkled o'er the ground
To lull the enraptur'd soul."
"Nearest to Heav'n†- unrival'd flow;
May torrents ne'er deface thy brow,
No season dry thy course!
May all thy sheep untroubled live,
And man the limpid draught receive
At thy enliv'ning source!
Then shall bold man Helveylin's views make known;
Refresh'd by thee - on Skiddow's&#x2021 height look down."
"A RAMBLER."
"*Mountain sheep are peculiarly swift. Ed."
" †I believe the highest spring in England."
"‡Called, "lofty Skiddow;" and by some (perhaps those who are proud of having visited it) wrongly imagined as high as Helveylin."
"... ..."

evidence:-   descriptive text:- Otley 1823 (5th edn 1834) 
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.
image OT01P059, button  goto source
Page 59:-  "..."
"On the western side of the mountain [Helvellyn], about the distance of three hundred yards from its summit, and three hundred perpendicular feet below it, there is a spring called Brownrigg Well, where the water issues in all seasons in a copious stream; its temperature in the summer months being generally from 40° to 42°: and when mixed with a little brandy, as recommended by 'mine host' of the Nag's Head, it makes a grateful beverage."


Wainwright, A: 1955: Book 1 Eastern Fells: Westmorland Gazette (Kendal, Westmorland):: Helvellyn (12) (22)

hearsay:-  
Mentioned in a poem 'Helvellyn', by Joseph Budworth

Budworth, Joseph:: Helvellyn

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