The Lake District

The Lake District was registered as a National Park in 1951covering 2292 sq km making it the largest National Part in Britain. With a third of the land owed by the National Trust who work together with the local area, local residents and local businesses "to preserve and enhance the natural beauty of the lake district to ensure it can be enjoy (and presverved) by generations to come."

The Lake District has many special qualities unique to the area. There are over fourteen lakes and tarns although officially Bassenthwaite Lake is the only titled 'lake' - the rest are 'meres' or 'waters', although we always still refer to Windermere as 'the Lake' and always will.

The rocks forming the Lake District provide a dramatic record of nearly 500 million years. Colliding continents, deep oceans, tropical seas, and kilometre-thick ice sheets helped shape the landscape we see today. Slate developed from sediments in oceans and seas, volcanoes erupted, limestone was formed by the deposition of dead crustaceans and sandstone was created in desert conditions. Various minerals were also formed in joints and faults in the bedrock.

The layers of rock formed were shifted and sculpted - first through different stages of folding and uplifting and then by the actions of glaciers and meltwater.

This breathe taking Nation Park includes smooth U-shaped valleys and steep and sharp ridges, England's highest mountain, deepest and longest lakes. The Lake District's volcanic rock does not allow water to seep away. The high rainfall, combined with the extra deep glacial valleys, means that the valleys are able to store large volumes of water, providing anglers with a great play ground.

Human settlement began in the Lake District at least 5000 years ago, when mountains became the source of stone for axes and the sites of stone circles at places like Long Meg and Castlerigg. Later inhabitants used the Lake District for gathering minerals like copper, iron-ore, graphite, and green slate - The same green slate locally quarried and sold internationally sold by Kirkstone Quarries.

In Neolithic times, the Lake District was a key source of stone axes, finding their way to many part of Britain. So much so, that the Langdale Pikes, are sometimes described as a 'stone axe factory', but these days only in stone circles...

Celts, Romans, Angles, and Vikings in succession settled among the lakes and hills, and it was the last of these who provided such place-name elements as "-thwaite" meaning "clearing", "fell" meaning "mountain with grazing", "gill" meaning "ravine", "force" meaning "waterfall". Also introduced the local Herdwick sheep, which are born black, then become white and can still be seen grazing on the fells.