Windermere

W, of course, has to bring us to Windermere, England’s largest lake, over eleven miles long and just less than a mile wide at its widest part. It’s what is called a ribbon lake, formed when two Ice Age glaciers melted. The moraine from the glaciers formed a barrier at the southern end of the valley which then filled with water.

The name is thought to originate from ‘Vinandr’s Mere’, from the old Norse name Vinandr and ‘mere’, the Norse word for lake. Until the 19th century, it was still known as Winander Mere.

The village of Windermere is about twenty minutes’ walk from the lake and only started to grow in the 19th century when a branch railway line was extended from near Kendal, much to the chagrin of Wordsworth who vehemently opposed the advent of the railway.

He even wrote a sonnet about it, concluding with:

Plead for thy peace, thou beautiful romance

Of nature; and, if human hearts be dead,

Speak, passing winds; ye torrents, with your strong

And constant voice, protest against the wrong.

Despite much opposition, the railway was built, and the village which started to grow up around the railway station was originally called Birthwaite, after a nearby farm, but then changed to Windermere. The station is still there, but the original station building is now a grocery store.

The only town which actually stands on the shores of Windermere is Bowness-on-Windermere, which is a mecca for tourists. Sadly, many people think they have been to ‘the Lakes’; when all they’ve been to is this over-commercialised and frequently over-crowded small town!

Boating, of course, is a popular sport on the lake. However, about 5 years ago, a speed limit of 12 m.p.h. was introduced, effectively ending power-boats and water ski-ing on the lake. The arguments in favour of this were based on environmental and safety grounds, the latter being supported by yacht owners. The opponents claimed there was no other lake in England available for power -boats and other ‘fast’ water sports. Also there has been a knock-on effect for local business, since the number of lake-users has dropped dramatically since the limit was introduced.

Windermere has a fleet of pleasure cruisers which ply the lake from one end to the other. Three of the original boats, the Tern (1891), Teal(1936) and Swan (1938) are still used, although their original steam engines have now been converted to diesel.

There is also a small car ferry which crosses the lake from east to west (and vice versa). We sometimes used this to reach Hawkshead, although it was always a toss-up between the queues waiting for the ferry and the traffic jams between Windermere and Ambleside in the tourist season. The ferry, operated by an underwater cable, carries 18 cars, and takes about ten minutes.

There has been a ferry service here for about 500 years. Originally it was simply a rowing boat, of course. One spooky story is about the ‘Crier of Claife’. Claife Heights is a small wooded hill on the west bank of Windermere. Evidently, on a stormy night in the fifteenth century, the ferryman heard a call from the west side of the lake and rowed across. He returned alone, terrified and unable to speak, and became so ill that he died a few days later. For years afterwards no ferryman would take the ferry out after dark and it was said that the eerie cry of 'Boat' was often heard during subsequent storms. The 'ghost' was supposedly exorcised by a monk from Furness Abbey but even today there are some who will not venture into Claife Woods at night.

Interesting Islands

Several of the Lakeland lakes have islands. As I’m concentrating on the southern half of the area, here’s a brief look at the islands in Windermere, Grasmere and Coniston Water.

Windermere is the largest lake, about ten miles long, and it has eighteen islands. The largest of these is Belle Isle which is about two-thirds of a mile long. It was originally known as Long Holme and it’s said that the governor of the Roman fort at Ambleside had a villa on the island. In the 18th century, the wealthy Curwen family bought the island and it was re-named Belle Isle after their daughter Isabella. In 1774, they built ‘Belle Island House’, which was unusual as it was a circular shape, with 3 floors and a portico with 4 pillars. Wordsworth was pretty disparaging about it, saying it looked like a tea canister in a shop window! Isabella’s descendants lived on the island until 1993, and it is still privately owned.

The other islands on Windermere are much smaller, and are all called ‘holme’ from the Norse word ‘holm’ (meaning island). Maiden Holme is the smallest, consisting of a single tree!

Grasmere has only one lake, known simply (and fairly unimaginatively) as ‘The Island’. Evidently Wordsworth used to row across to this island and one of his sonnets is about the tranquillity he found here.

The largest island on Coniston Water is Peel Island, which is owned by the National Trust. This is thought to be the fictional Wild Cat Island where the children camped in the Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome. This photo shows their 'secret harbour'. The other two Coniston islands are Oak Island and Fir Island, although the latter only deserves the name island when the water is very high and cuts it off from the shore.