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Tarns, Tarn Hows
Highlow Tarn
locality:-   Tarn Hows
civil parish:-   Coniston (formerly Lancashire)
civil parish:-   Hawkshead (formerly Lancashire)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   tarn
coordinates:-   SD330999
1Km square:-   SD3399
10Km square:-   SD39

photograph
 Click to enlarge
BVR58.jpg (taken 15.11.2011)  
evidence:-   old map:- OS County Series (Lan 2 13) 
placename:-  Tarns, The
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:- OS County Series (Lan 2) 
placename:-  High Tarn
placename:-  Middle Tarn
placename:-  Low 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.
Three tarns are shown:-  "High Tarn"
"Middle Tarn"
"Low Tarn"
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
Two tarns are drawn. 
item:-  JandMN : 48.1
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   descriptive text:- Otley 1823 (5th edn 1834) 
item:-  geology
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 OT01P036, button  goto source
Page 36:-  "Two or three pools, between the hills on the north of Coniston Waterhead, are called simply the Tarns; ..."
"..."
image OT01P158, button  goto source
Page 158:-  "The THIRD division - forming only inferior elevations - commences with a bed of dark-blue or blackish transition limestone, containing here and there a few shells and madrepores, and alternating with a slaty rock of the same colour; the different layers of each being in some places several feet, in others only a few inches in thickness. This limestone crosses the river Duddon near Broughton; passing Broughton Mills it runs in a north-east direction through Torver, by the foot of the Old Man mountain, and appears near Low Yewdale and Yew Tree. Here it makes a considerable slip to the eastward, after which it ranges past the Tarns upon the hills above Borwick Ground; and stretching through Skelwith, it crosses the head of Windermere near Low Wood Inn. Then passing above Dovenest and Skelgill, it traverses the vales of Troutbeck, Kentmere, and Long Sleddale;"
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, black and white, The Tarns, Tarn Hows, Coniston and Hawkshead, Lancashire, by Herbert Bell, photographer, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.
image  click to enlarge
HB0908.jpg
stamped at reverse:-  "HERBERT BELL / Photographer / AMBLESIDE"
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS583
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, sepia, The Tarns, Tarn Hows, Coniston and Hawkshead, Lancashire, by Herbert Bell, photographer, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.
image  click to enlarge
HB0721.jpg
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS385
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, sepia, The Tarns, Tarn Hows, Coniston and Hawkshead, Lancashire, by Herbert Bell, photographer, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.
image  click to enlarge
HB0597.jpg
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS257
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, sepia, Tarns at Tarn Hows, Coniston, Cumberland etc, by Herbert Bell, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s?
image  click to enlarge
HB0325.jpg
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS684
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, black and white, The Tarns, Tarn Hows, Coniston and Hawkshead, Lancashire, by Herbert Bell, photographer, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.
image  click to enlarge
HB0908.jpg
stamped at reverse:-  "HERBERT BELL / Photographer / AMBLESIDE"
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS583
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, sepia, The Tarns, Tarn Hows, Coniston and Hawkshead, Lancashire, by Herbert Bell, photographer, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.
image  click to enlarge
HB0721.jpg
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS385
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, sepia, The Tarns, Tarn Hows, Coniston and Hawkshead, Lancashire, by Herbert Bell, photographer, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.
image  click to enlarge
HB0597.jpg
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS257
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, sepia, Tarns at Tarn Hows, Coniston, Cumberland etc, by Herbert Bell, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s?
image  click to enlarge
HB0325.jpg
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS684
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Pearson 1900s
placename:-  Tarn Hows
source data:-   Print, halftone photograph, Tarn Hows, Coniston, Lancashire, published by C Arthur Pearson, Henrietta Street, London, 1900s.
image  click to enlarge
PS1E37.jpg
On p.96 of Pearson's Gossipy Guide to the English Lakes and Neighbouring Districts. 
printed at bottom:-  "TARN HOWS, CONISTON. (pp.94, 95.)"
item:-  Armitt Library : A1188.44
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Pearson 1900s
placename:-  Tarn Hows
source data:-   Print, halftone photograph, Tarn Hows, Coniston, Lancashire, published by C Arthur Pearson, Henrietta Street, London, 1900s.
image  click to enlarge
PS1E40.jpg
On p.104 of Pearson's Gossipy Guide to the English Lakes and Neighbouring Districts. 
printed at bottom:-  "TARN HOWS. (p.95)."
item:-  Armitt Library : A1188.47
Image © see bottom of page
hearsay:-  
 The lakes were created as a designed landscape by the Marshall Family in the 1860s. A small dam was built which caused the three tarns to become one. The site was bought by Beatrix Potter in the 1930s, and is now owned by the National Trust.
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