A complete guide to the English lakes, (1855) (14781405641)

Identifier: completeguidetoe1855mart2 (find matches)
Title: A complete guide to the English lakes,
Year: 1855 (1850s)
Authors: Martineau, Harriet, 1802-1876
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: Windermere: : J. Garnett. London: : Whittaker and Co.
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library



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pitch of road, though its highestpoint is only 720 feet above the sea. On the rightthere is a stream which divides the counties of Cumber-land and Westmorland; and on either hand rise themountains of Steel Fell and Seat Sandal. The cairn,— a rude mass of stones near the top of the ascent,which the stranger should be on the look out for,marks the spot of a critical conflict in the olden time,—that is, in A.D. 945, — when the Anglo Saxon KingEdmund defeated and slew Dunmail, the British Kingof Cumbria, and then put out the eyes of the two sonsof his slain foe, and gave their inheritance to Malcolm,King of Scotland. At the Nags Head, the little inn which is about amile and a-quarter further on, the traveller must decideon one of three courses, — as politicians are wont to do.He may go up Helvellyn, or he may bowl along on thehigh road, straight through Legberthwaite, and imme-diately under Helvellyn ; or he may go on foot, or on apony, round the western side of the lake, which is
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THIRLMEEE. 69 known by the various names of Wythburn Water,Leathes Water, and Thirlmere. It is a choice of plea-sures ; and he will ascend Helvellyn hereafter, if hedoes not now. Of the two lake roads, the rude westernone is unquestionably the finest. The woods, whichwere once so thick that the squirrel is said to have gonefrom Wythburn to Keswick without touching theground, are cleared away now ; and the only gloom inthe scene is from the mass of Helvellyn. The strangerleaves the mail road within a mile of the Nags Head,passes the cottages called by the boastful name of theCity of Wythburn, and a few farm-houses, and soonemerging from the fences, finds himself on a grassylevel under the Armboth Fells, within an amphitheatreof rocks, with the lake before him, and Helvellyn be-yond, overshadowing it. The rocks behind are featheredwith wood, except where a bold crag here, and a freecataract there introduces a variety. There is a clearpool in the midst of the grass, where, if the approac