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High Fall, Rydal
High Fall
site name:-   Rydal Beck
site name:-   Rydal Hall
locality:-   Rydal
civil parish:-   Lakes (formerly Westmorland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   waterfall
coordinates:-   NY36560678
1Km square:-   NY3606
10Km square:-   NY30

photograph
BPU37.jpg (taken 31.10.2008)  courtesy of Rydal Hall
evidence:-   old map:- OS County Series (Wmd 26 2) 
placename:-  High Fall
placename:-  Fall, High
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:-   descriptive text:- West 1778 (11th edn 1821) 
source data:-   Guide book, A Guide to the Lakes, by Thomas West, published by William Pennington, Kendal, Cumbria once Westmorland, and in London, 1778 to 1821.
image WS21P078, button  goto source
Page 78:-  "... At Rydal-hall are two cascades worthy of notice. One is a little above the house, to which Sir Michael le Fleming made a convenient path, that brings you upon it all at once. This is a mighty torrent tumbling headlong, and uninterruptedly, from an immense height of rock, into the rocky bason below, shaking the mountain under you with its fall, and the air above with the rebound. It is a surprising scene. This gentleman's example, in opening a road to the fall, recommends itself strongly to others of this country, which abounds with so many noble objects of curiosity, and which all travellers of the least taste would visit with pleasure, could they do it with convenience and safety."
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Addendum; Mr Gray's Journal, 1769 
Page 212:-  "By not staying a little at Ambleside, Mr. Gray lost the sight of two magnificent cascades: [Stockghyll Force and] the other down Rydal-crag, where Sir Michael le Fleming is now making a pathway to the top of it. These, when I saw them, were in full torrent; whereas Lowdore water-fall, which I visited in the evening of the very same day, was almost without a stream. ..."
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Rev Plumtre's Night Piece on Windermere, 1797 
Page 232:-  "... / The falls down Rydal's mountains tost; / The high cascade[1], with dashing spray, / O'er rugged rocks maintains its way, / With stubbed trees, by storms despoil'd - / A scene most picturesquely wild, / ..."
"[1] Besides the two cascades in the grounds of Sir Michael le Fleming, there is another higher up, which, when there is plenty of water, is well worth the notice of the picturesque traveller."
evidence:-   old text:- Gents Mag
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.
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Gentleman's Magazine 1805 p.1011  "... On the 22nd [August] we stopped at Rydal, in our route to Keswick, and lingered away an hour in the rich woods of Sir Michael. Ascending under a close covert shade, about 200 yards from the mansion-house, our progress was suddenly arrested by the broad bed of the Rothay dashing with a foamy fury over the precipitous sides of a tremendous gill, "bosomed high in tufted trees." After tumbling with a horrid roar, nearly an hundred perpendicular feet, it is hurried down a gradual declivity into a current perpetually agitated by smaller impediments. Hence we dived into a narrower glen, which the rampant boughs have wrapped in almost Cimmerian gloom. ..."
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.
image
OT02NY30.jpg
Marked by three chevrons across the stream. 
item:-  JandMN : 48.1
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   descriptive text:- Otley 1823 (5th edn 1834) 
placename:-  Rydal Waterfalls
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 44:-  "RYDAL WATERFALLS.- The upper is a considerable cascade, pouring out its water, first in a contracted stream, down a perpendicular rock; and then, in a broader sheet, dashing into a deep stony channel. The lower, being near the house, forms a beautiful garden scene."
evidence:-   descriptive text:- Ford 1839 (3rd edn 1843) 
placename:-  Upper Fall
item:-  height, High Fall
source data:-   Guide book, A Description of Scenery in the Lake District, by Rev William Ford, published by Charles Thurnam, Carlisle, by W Edwards, 12 Ave Maria Lane, Charles Tilt, Fleet Street, William Smith, 113 Fleet Street, London, by Currie and Bowman, Newcastle, by Bancks and Co, Manchester, by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, and by Sinclair, Dumfries, 1839.
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Page 40:-  "..."
"... The Rydal Waterfalls are shown by a domestic [of Rydal Hall]; the stranger is ... then conducted amidst groves of oaks, through whose opening glades peeps are obtained of the huge mountains above, and the sweet vale below, to the Upper Fall, which is fine in all seasons; the stream is much contracted, and precipitated down a perpendicular wall of rock into a dark basin. From the bed of the river at the top of the lower cascade, this Fall is a scene of considerable interest."
evidence:-   probably descriptive text:- Ford 1839 (3rd edn 1843) 
placename:-  Rydal Fall
source data:-   Guide book, A Description of Scenery in the Lake District, by Rev William Ford, published by Charles Thurnam, Carlisle, by W Edwards, 12 Ave Maria Lane, Charles Tilt, Fleet Street, William Smith, 113 Fleet Street, London, by Currie and Bowman, Newcastle, by Bancks and Co, Manchester, by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, and by Sinclair, Dumfries, 1839.
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Page 179:-  "WATERFALLS."
No. Name and Situation of Fall. Height.
9 Rydal Fall, near Ambleside 70 feet
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 54:-  "..."
"The guide to the Rydal Falls will by this time have presented herself, and the tourist must visit them. They are within the park, and cannot be seen without"
image MNU1P055, button  goto source
Page 55:-  "a guide: but some one is always to be found at one of the two guides' cottages on the ascent of the hill. The upper fall is the finest, in the eyes of those who prefer the most natural accessaries of a cascade: ..."
evidence:-   probably old text:- Martineau 1855
placename:-  Rydal Fall
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.
image MNU1P180, button  goto source
Page 180:-  "WATERFALLS."
"No. : Names and Situations of Falls. : Counties : Feet in Height."
"4 : Rydal Fall, near Ambleside : Westmorland : 70"
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, black and white, High Fall, Rydal Beck, Rydal, Westmorland, by Herbert Bell, photographer, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.
image  click to enlarge
HB0698.jpg
stamped on reverse:-  "HERBERT BELL / Photographer / AMBLESIDE"
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS362
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Garnett 1850s-60s F
placename:-  Upper Fall
source data:-   Print, uncoloured engraving, Upper Fall at Rydal, Westmorland, engraved by William Banks, Edinburgh, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, 1850s-60s?
image  click to enlarge
GAR707.jpg
Included in Views of the English Lakes. 
printed at bottom:-  "Engd. by W. Banks Edinr. / UPPER FALL AT RYDAL"
item:-  JandMN : 165.7
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Rose 1832-35
placename:-  Upper Fall at Rydal
source data:-   Print, engraving, The Upper Fall at Rydal, Westmorland, by H Gastineau, engraved by T Jeevons, 1833.
image  click to enlarge
R148.jpg
item:-  JandMN : 66.59
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Smith and Emes 1794-95 (plate 7) 
placename:-  Upper Cascade
source data:-   Print, uncoloured aquatint, Upper Cascade Rydal, drawn by John Emes from a sketch by Laporte, engraved by S Alken, published by W Clarke, New Bond Street, London, 1795.
image  click to enlarge
BNV33.jpg
Plate 7 in Views of the Lakes. 
printed at bottom:-  "... Upper Cascade Rydal. ..."
item:-  private collection : 72
Image © see bottom of page
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