Old-world charm and glittering lakes beloved by poets
With its rugged hills, ancient fortresses and streets full of old-world charm, the northern Lake District, from Penrith to Keswick, is mesmerising under autumn’s cloak
THE SUN HAS not yet risen over Ullswater in the northern Lake District. Mist drifts in long, slow clouds over the lake, which is as still as frosted glass, and flocks of gulls and Greylag geese roost on the water, quiet for now. The fells enclosing the lake are cloaked in blue, but as the sun rises, it casts them in bronze. Striking the tops first, the rays move down the slopes, illuminating the rusty, falling bracken and stands of trees, some already in full fox-red; others a faded green. From somewhere out of sight, deep in the hills, comes a bellowing groan. Silence sinks across the scene before an answering roar rebounds across the lake. It is October, and the Red deer rut is under way.
Six miles to the north-east, in the market town of Penrith, there is neither sign nor sound of the deer’s annual competition. Here, pigeons strut and peck at the paving stones around the Clock Tower as the first rays glint off its iron finial spires. As the sunlight warms the crumbling red sandstone walls of Penrith Castle, a slight gust of wind shakes the leaves of the trees, and a few of them fall to the grass. A bright autumn day is beginning.
Former capital
Penrith was once the capital of Cumbria and is still one of the most important market towns of the region. Its site, on the crossroads between the M6 north to Scotland and the A66 east-west trans-Pennine road, was just as important in AD72 as it is today. This was the year the Romans arrived in Cumbria, establishing forts at Voreda, now Plumpton, 5½ miles north of Penrith, and Brocavum, at Brougham. Roads were built to connect the forts with others across the country, protect communication lines, guard river crossings and suppress native tribes. Penrith lies at the meeting of these routes, with the present A66 to Scotch Corner still largely following the route of the old Roman road.
When, after 300 years, the Romans withdrew, tribal peoples reasserted their place on the land until the late 7th century, when the Angles began to infiltrate, gradually drawing Cumbria into the
kingdom of Northumbria. When their power began to wane in the late 8th century, Cumbria was annexed by the Kingdom of Strathclyde and overseen as a semi-independent state, where Penrith was the capital.
“The history is incredibly rich and varied, and there’s evidence of it everywhere,” says Rebecca Short, curator at the Penrith and Eden Museum, which sits a short walk from the centre of town. “It’s situated in an incredibly beautiful part of the country, where you have neolithic and bronze age sites, medieval history with castles, and obviously Roman history. One of my favourite things is the magical myths and legends of the area.”
Among the museum’s collection are rough-cut and polished stone axes, neolithic arrowheads and early bronze age beakers and cremation urns. There are also
Roman artefacts, including a pile of 600 coins fused together, a fine art gallery and collections from important local figures, including the extensive geological collection of Vice Admiral Robert Wauchope. The gift of this, along with naval surgeon Harrison Wilkinson’s collection of books, coins and medals, and the herbarium of Dr Michael Waistell Taylor, were foundational to the museum.
“We have some random things,” admits Rebecca. “You can do a tour at Penrith Castle, where you’ll learn about Richard III and the history of the castle. Then you come to the museum and find that we’ve got an elephant tooth on display that was found in the moat. We don’t know why it was down there; perhaps it came from some kind of travelling circus, or maybe they had exotic animals. But it takes the story to a different level.”
All are now housed in the Grade II* listed Elizabethan stone building, coated in white roughcast and painted dusky pink around the windows, with an old stone slate roof. Altered in 1670 and used as a school until the late 1970s, the museum officially opened here in 1985.
“We’re a local museum representing the community,” says Rebecca. “We’re also attached to the tourist information centre, so you can get lots of information, learn
about the natural history, geology, ancient and social history, and then go and visit those sites. There’s plenty to see and different exhibitions throughout the year.”
Outside, Thacka Beck flows briefly above ground. Diverted from the River Petteril in 1400, the stream was once the main source of water, from which residents were allowed to draw as much “as would flow through the eye of a millstone”, an example of which stands alongside.
Historic town centre
The walk to the town centre follows Middlegate. This was one of the main streets of old Penrith, called, at the time, the Long Front before being renamed Medilgate in 1551. It passes a small cinema and N Arnison & Sons Drapers, established in 1742. The shop stands on the site of the old Moot Hall, owned by William Wordsworth’s grandfather, William Cookson. Opposite, a short distance away, is the Clock Tower. It was erected in 1861 in tribute to Sir George and Lady Musgrave, 10th Baronets of Edenhall, to memorialise their son Philip, who died aged 26.
Back out on the busier streets, the lane ahead leads to the Cornmarket. Positioned on a major droving route from Scotland, and surrounded by fertile ground, Penrith has been a busy market town for more than 800 years. In his 1787 Survey of the Lakes of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire, James Clarke described the markets as ‘truly astonishing in so small a town: the wheat-market is in one part of town; rye and potatoes in another; barley in another; oats and pease in another; live-cattle, horses, and hogs have also their distinct markets’. Many were held outside the town’s numerous inns: there were as many as 57 of these in 1907; each of which also provided stabling for farmers’ horses. In the Cornmarket, wheat was sold in front of the Black Lion, which still stands today, and markets are still held at Great Dockray every Tuesday.
As well as markets, hiring fairs were held here, where farm workers looked for half-year employment, and the White Hart received coaches to and from West Cumberland twice daily. The Griffin Inn, which no longer survives, was famed as a sports venue. Its landlord in 1867, Mr William Jameson, was himself a wrestler, described in The Pall Mall Gazette as ‘more
like a polar bear on its hind legs in a grey flannel shirt than a human being’.
Castle remains
Evidence of the tensions created by proximity to the border is Penrith Castle, built between 1399 and 1470 in defence against Scottish invasion. Approximately five minutes’ walk down Castlegate, it stands on the slope of a grassy mound and, though ruined, its walls still reach their full height in places. Built from local red sandstone, they glow umber in the low autumn sunlight. Though established as a fortress, it was later transformed into a luxurious residence by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the future Richard III, who stayed at the castle for periods between 1471 and 1485. After becoming king, he left, and surveys from the 16th century describe it already falling into disrepair.
Brougham Castle, 2 miles outside town, above the silvery confluence of the rivers Eamont and Lowther is, by contrast, in much better condition. Windows, chambers, passageways and spiral staircases often resound with children’s giggles and adults’ murmured observations. Like Penrith Castle, it is built on the site of a Roman fort, here Brocavum, which was itself established in AD78-84 and occupied until early in the 5th century. In 1203, during continuing unrest across the border, King John granted the lordship of Westmorland to Robert de Vieuxpont, one of his few supporters in northern England. De Vieuxpont almost immediately began construction, and the castle became an important military base during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the late 13th century. It was also a prestigious residence, hosting Edward I in July 1300 and King James I of England in 1617.
By the early 18th century, this castle had also fallen into disrepair, with its usable materials sold off in 1714. The building’s now crumbling appearance, in a wooded park, and reflected in the slow-moving river, delighted the incoming Romantic movement. Wordsworth, Wilberforce and J M W Turner all visited, and its picturesque qualities are still appreciated today.
The Lowther and Eamont are both sourced in the Lake District fells, with the former running out of Haweswater, to the south, past Lowther Castle. Following the Eamont south-west leads to Rheged, where events, screenings and exhibitions are often held, and into the countryside.
Along the road, drystone walls bound sheep-grazed fields, and the Lake District fells rise hazily on the horizon, coming more closely into view with every turn. Although it is the second largest lake in
the Lake District, at 9 miles long, ¾ mile wide and 197ft (60m) deep, Ullswater does not come within sight until it is very close. Its bright water is screened by a row of trees, their yellowing leaves flickering in the wind blowing down from the fells and across the lake, carrying scents of moss.
Tea by the lake
The road meets the lake just outside Pooley Bridge: a small village on the northern shore named after the Eamont crossing. The original stone bridge, erected in 1754, collapsed in the floods following Storm Desmond in 2015. When the new bridge was opened in October 2020, a flock of sheep were the first to cross it, driven by the Coulstons, a local farming family.
Overlooking the tumbling water on the east side of the bridge is Granny Dowbekin’s, a traditional English tea room. Cream teas have been served here in the garden since the mid 19th century, when the Ullswater Steamers transported slate, mail and passengers up the lake towards the train station at Penrith.
Scones, freshly baked that morning, are carried out to the sunlit garden room decorated with wallpaper by Cumbrian artist Laura Sowerby. Birds, butterflies and snails sit among a tangle of leaves and flowers; the design is drawn, etched and printed on a manual press from her home.
Plates of home-made sausage rolls, a towering club sandwich, loaded with home-cooked ham, and Granny’s rarebit, made with locally brewed Steamer Stout, follow the trays of scones. “Home-cooked and hearty is what we do best,” says head chef Daniel Dinham. Almost everything is sourced within Cumbria or the Lake District, with eggs from Ellonby, fruit and veg from Appleby and Cumberland Saucy Gin distilled by Chestnut House down the road. Our Cumberland sausages come from Kendall. They’re heavily spiced, which is how we think a traditional Cumberland should be.”
One of their more well-known offerings is their gingerbridge. “We make our gingerbread in the shape of the old Pooley Bridge,” he says. “It was created to commemorate its 250-year anniversary in 2014, and then the bridge collapsed in 2015. The recipe was developed by Sarah
Fowler and it’s Britain’s only commemorative gingerbread.” Gingerbread has a long cultural association with Cumbria, dating back to the mid 18th century, when Whitehaven was the third largest port in Britain, importing ginger, rum and sugar from enslaved colonies in the West Indies.
Though much has changed since then, the view from the northern shore of Ullswater has not. Seen from the pier at
Pooley Bridge, the lake swoops south-west before kinking briefly west and south in an extended Z-shape. Its long, narrow profile is typical of a glacial ribbon lake, formed during the last ice age, 10,000 years ago. At this time, thick layers of ice swathed the land, and as glaciers bore down from the heights, they carved away softer rock, forging steep-sided U-shaped valleys. When the glacier retreated, the valley filled with meltwater, today swelled by rain and river. This makes it the perfect habitat for fish such as perch, pike, char and schelly, which is a freshwater member of the salmon family, endemic to Ullswater.
Steam boats
The boats chugging across the lake, too, have changed little. The first reported paddle steamers set out in 1859, and the Lady of the Lake was launched on 26 June 1877. The boat still sails, and at 8am, her skipper, Graeme Connacher, makes his way down to the pier at Glenridding, where she bumps softly against the wooden posts.
“When I was a child, she was seriously damaged by fire and ended up sitting on the side as a scorched hulk,” he says. “I always thought: ‘Doesn’t she look sad, and wouldn’t it be lovely if one day she was back in service’. Little did I know back then that I would be her skipper for more than 30 years.” Before catching fire, she sank twice: first at her moorings in 1881, and again in 1958. “All of us are just custodians of these boats, and one thing that is lovely about the Lady of the Lake is that she’s still earning a living after 140 years,” says Graeme.
On land, Red squirrels scamper in the trees, and one of the oldest Red deer herds in England roams across Martindale on the south-east shore, their bloodline dating back to William the Conqueror. Fell ponies also roam the hills, grazing gorse and bracken. This hardy, sure-footed breed, which can survive all winter outdoors, has been used for work since the time of the Vikings.
Thundering waterfall
Perhaps the most exhilarating natural spectacle is Aira Force, crashing 65ft (20m) down a narrow ravine to a dark and swirling pool. From the lake shore, the path towards it leads through to a grassy glade and into an arboretum of firs, pines, spruces and cedars, both native and ornamental. Soon, the thundering water is heard through the trees, and the cool woodland air becomes damp with vapour.
Though it appears semi-natural now, the area was designed as an 18th century pleasure ground by the Howard family, of Greystoke Castle, who landscaped the ground, planted more than half a million trees and laid footpaths and bridges. In 1833, after visiting the waterfall, Wordsworth captured its drama in his Gothic poem The Somnambulist.
Popular Keswick
From Aira Force, the route turns north, rejoining the course of the Roman road at the A66 to Keswick, which has been a popular holiday town since the 18th century. Like Penrith, its long history is tied to its market, which has taken place every Thursday and Saturday since 1276, when Edward I granted the town its charter; the only exceptions made on days of high wind. During the late 16th century, copper was found in Newlands and Borrowdale, and the town became known for its mining industry. Graphite, mined at Seathwaite, was used in machinery, military arsenal and, from
“Wild stream of Aira, hold thy course, Nor fear memorial lays, Where clouds that spread in solemn shade, Are edged with golden rays”
William Wordsworth, ‘The Somnambulist’