Old Cumbria Gazetteer - viewpoint, Windermere by boat


included in:-	Windermere lake
	viewpoint, Windermere by boat
site name:-	Windermere lake
civil parish:-	Windermere (formerly Westmorland)
county:-	Cumbria
locality type:-	viewpoint
1Km square:-	SD3997 (etc)
10Km square:-	SD39

evidence:-	descriptive text:- West 1778 (11th edn 1821) item:- boat
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. goto source Page 63:- "... I recommend sailing" goto source Page 64:- "down to Rawlinson's-nab. On the south side of it, a pretty bay opens for landing. In the course of the voyage, you should touch at the different islands in the way, where every" goto source Page 65:- "object is varied by a change of features, in such a manner as renders them wholly new. The great island changes its appearance, and, joined with the ferry points, cuts the lake in two. The house thereon becomes an important to object. The ferry-house, seen under the sycamore grove, has a fine effect; and the broken cliff over it, constitutes a most agreeable picture. The greatest beauty of the shore, and the finest rural scenes in nature, are found by traversing the lake; and viewing each in turn. they receive improvement from contrast.- The western side is spread with enchanting sylvan scenes; the eastern waves with all the improved glory of rural magnificence."

evidence:-	old text:- Green 1810
source data:-	Set of prints, soft ground etchings, Sixty Studies from Nature, by William Green, Ambleside, Westmorland, drawn 1808-10, published 1810. goto source page 11:- "... the finest water view from the head of" goto source page 12:- "Windermere is about half a mile down the lake, having the boat at an equal distance from the eastern and the western shores. This is that anchorage, were it possible to anchor here, from which the mountains of Coniston, Little and Great Langdale, Loughrigg, Rydal, Ambleside, and Troutbeck, the high grounds of Applethwaite, Orrest, Bowness, and Cartmel fell, and the lands above Wray, as from one station on the water, are seen to the greatest advantage."

evidence:-	old text:- Martineau 1855 item:- drainage; flood; steamer
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. goto source Page 16:- "The next thing to be done is to take a survey of the whole lake by a steamboat trip. During the summer, two steamers make six trips each; so that the stranger can choose his own hour, and go down or up first, as he" goto source Page 17:- "pleases. In accordance with the rule of lake approach, we should recommend his going down first. He embarks at the pier at Bowness, and is carried straight across to the Ferry, where the boats touch. Then the course is southwards, with the lake narrowing, and the hills sinking till the scenery becomes merely pretty. The water is very shallow towards the foot, and the practicable channel is marked out by posts. The best work that the whole neighbourhood could undertake would be the deepening of the lake at this part, and of the river which carries off the overflow. Not only is the passage of the steamers difficult : there is a far worse evil in the inundations which take place on all the low-lying lands, even up to Rydal, from the insufficiency of the outlet. The mischief has much increased since drainage has been introduced. The excellent and indispensable practice of land drainage must be followed up by an improvement in arterial drainage, or floods are inevitable. The water which formerly dribbled away in the course of many days, or even weeks, now gushes out from the drains all at once; and if the main outlets are not enlarged in proportion, the waters are thrown back upon the land. This is the case now in the neighbourhood of Windermere,- the meadows and low-lying houses at Ambleside, a mile or two from the lake, being flooded every winter by the overflow of the lake first, then of the river, then of the tributary streams. The Steam Yacht Companies gave fifty pounds to have the lake deepened at Fell Foot, about five years ago; and Mr. White, the proprietor of the Newby Bridge Hotel, subscribed the same amount: and this was good as far" goto source Page 18:- "as it went. But a much larger operation is required. There is a weir below Newby Bridge, to serve a corn mill. Now, the days of weirs and watermills are coming to an end. In these days of steam engines it is not to be endured that hundreds of acres should be turned into swamps, and hundreds of lives lost by fever, ague, and rheumatism, for the sake of a waterpower, which pays perhaps thirty pounds or forty pounds a-year. We say this of watermills generally; and in regard to the need of sufficient arterial drainage, we speak of the shores of Windermere in particular. The expense of carrying off the utmost surplus of the waters in the wettest season would be presently repaid, here as anywhere else, by the improved value of the land and house property, relieved from the nuisance of flood."

	indexing
person:-	author : West, Thomas
place:-	Windermere lake
date:-	1778
period:-	18th century, late
period:-	1780s
item:-	guide book; Guide to the Lakes

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