THE LAKE DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK (CUMBRIA, ENGLAND)
Elena Frittelli (TULE Associate Member, University of Perugia, Italy)
The English Lake District is a worldwide known area in Northwest England – in the administrative county of Cumbria, which includes portions of historic counties such as Cumberland, Lancashire and Westmorland – for its extraordinary and picturesque landscapes, formed by: valleys, the Cumbrian mountains with the highest peak in England (the Scafell Pike, 978 metres), high hills called ‘fells’, lakes (including the deepest of England, Wastwater, with 74 metres deep; and the largest, Windermere, which is 14.8 square kilometres) and small mountain pools (‘tarns’), rivers and waterfalls. There are four main settlements: Kendal, Ambleside, Windermere and Keswick. With an economy based on agriculture and the extraction of copper and lead (until 1870, when it became uneconomic), the entire Lake District underwent massive deforestation that risked irreparably compromising its scenic landscapes. The reversal process began when the state Forestry Commission began restoring the native woodlands in the area (except for the central upland), and in 1951, the Lake District National Park was established to protect the harmonious beauty of its landscapes (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2024). With the establishment of the national park, the local economy also changed: as increasing numbers of visitors are deeply fascinated by the natural sites and the place’s rich historical background, the tourism industry has flourished and become the primary source of income for the entire region. In 2016, the area of the national park was extended (currently it is about 2362 square kilometres), and on the 9th of July 2017, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO officially added the English Lake District to UNESCO’s World Heritage List due to its Outstanding Universal Value linked to the cultural criteria ii-v-vi (UNESCO,2017) and its past association with the English Romantic Movement. It was in the 18th century that Lakeland began to be depicted and celebrated as a subject of the Picturesque Movement, and then, from the 19th century onward, it was appreciated by various poets, artists, and talented explorers.
The local poet William Wordsworth was the first author (and also a pioneer of ecology) to write about travel literature in the Lake District. In 1810, after having explored Lakeland, he decided to write the Guide to the Lakes (which is considered the first essential guidebookof the region), where he described: the main routes, the leading natural see sights and the historical places and monuments of the region aiming to inform the incoming travellers; the Guide was expanded and revisited by the author until 1835, when the last edition was published (see Wordsworth & Yoshikawa, 2022, for more detail). After the Romantic poet, many other writers, artists, and visitors were influenced by the stunning natural beauty of Lakeland, and the literary heritage grew alongside the Lake District’s increasing fame across the world. In 2022, the national park welcomed 18.14 million tourists, an outstanding result primarily due to its principal attraction: the literary road trip, which allows the traveller to explore independently the entire Lake District literary attractions and walking paths linked to specific authors or aspects of their lives in the Lakeland, such as House-Museums, private gardens and art collections opened to visitors, Research Centres, Libraries, Theme Parks, and various outdoor activities inspired by literary adventures. This network is accessible to any kind of visitor thanks to helpful, up-to-date information available on public websites and handy electronic resources (Apps, e-books, audiobooks, audio guides, and interactive maps), as well as modern printed guidebooks and updated maps with routes and paths.
The following paragraphs describe, in chronological order, the most characteristic literary places in the Lake District related to influential writers, artists and creators who chose to celebrate (or even to live upon) the shores and valleys of Lakeland.
William Wordsworth in Grasmere
Nearby the lake Grasmere (0.6 square kilometres), one of the smallest lakes of the region, lies the humble Dove Cottage,once the house of the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and his sister Dorothy, where they lived from December 1799 until 1808, when they decided to settle in larger quarters in Grasmere before moving to Rydal Mount near Ambleside in 1813. Today, Dove Cottage is a House-Museum of the Wordsworth Trust with many objects of the poet’s family on display alongside the Garden Orchard and the Wordsworth Museum (the Jerwood Centre), home of a vast collection of books and art items. In his birthplace at Cockermouth in Cumberland, Dove Cottage is one of the most representative places, because it was there that the poet brought to life some of his greatest poetry works, for example, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (or “Daffodils”), which appeared for the first time in Poems (2 volumes) in 1807 (Parrish, 2024). These texts were inspired by a picturesque field of daffodils that he saw after a walk in the countryside near the cottage. Ten years before, after the fortunate meeting with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), Wordsworth wrote the short lyrical poems Lyrical Ballads (published anonymously in 1798), a milestone for the English Romantic Movement, written to present an innovative approach to the relationship between human and nature (Beer, 2024).
John Ruskin in Coniston Water
The Brantwood House-Museum, once home of the Victorian artist and writer John Ruskin (1819-1900), is located on the Eastern shore of Lake Coniston Water, not far from Kendal. The original cottage bought by Ruskin, who had been deeply fascinated by the Lake District scenery since childhood, was expanded many times over the decades and, since 1951, has been in the possession of the Brantwood Trust, which aims to protect the House and Ruskin’s collection. Visitors may take a literary tour and see the majestic house, the garden within the grand estate, and several collections on display.
Beatrix Potter in Near Sawrey
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) was a creative author and talented illustrator of many children’s books. She spent much time on her childhood holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, but it was the latter that literary stole her heart. Thanks to the great success of her first book starring Peter Rabbit, she bought Hill Top farmhouse (near Sawrey, between Hawkshead and Windermere). Today, this little gem is a National Trust property, open to visitors who may explore the House-Museum and the garden and even take farm tours. In Windermere, there is also a theme park (The World of Beatrix Potter) where the protagonists of her books “come to life” for the joy of children and adults.
Arthur Ransome in Coniston Water and Habbot Hall
Pioneer of the literary genre “holiday adventure”, the writer Arthur Ransome (1884-1967) was also a sailor and a journalist; born in Leeds, he grew up in Windermere, spending his summers at Nibthwaite (South of Coniston Water), where he learned to sail. His love for outdoor adventures and nature inspired him to write the fortunate children’s novels of 12 books translated into 18 languages, Swallows and Amazons (1930-1947), which, set in the Lake District, followed a group of resourceful little explorers. Today, the Literary Society Arthur Ransome, located at Habbot Hall (Kirkland, Kendal), organises outdoor activities inspired by the book series.
Alfred Wainwright and John Cunliffe in Kendal
On South-east of Windermere lies the town of Kendal, an attractive place for visitors searching for the places where Alfred Wainwright (1907-1991) and John ‘Arthur’ Cunliffe (1933-2018) lived. Wainwright was a writer, an explorer, and a skilled artist who, after an excursion on Windermere’s pike (Orrest Head) in 1930 and bewitched by the majestic view, decided to move to Kendal and dedicate his entire life to exploring and mapping the area. From 1952 onwards, several handwritten guidebooks have been discovered (more than 50 today), but his masterpieces were the seven definitive guides to the Lakeland Fells, the Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. The author and creator of TV shows, John Cunliffe, lived in Kendal for six years. Still, it was during this time that he drew inspiration from the nearby small towns and villages in the Longsleddale valley to create the idyllic world of Postman Pat Clifton and his friends. The thirteen adventures were all set in Greendale (an alternative version of Longsleddale), and real Lakeland people inspired some of its characters. With the success of the BBC TV show, which aired in 1981, and the 190 children’s storybooks, Cunliffe helped make Kendal’s territory a renowned literary destination. Today, at Kendal’s Museums of Lakeland Life, there is a room dedicated to the creator of Postman Pat.
How to cite this dictionary entry: Frittelli, E. (2024). The Lake District National Park (Cumbria, England). In R. Baleiro, G. Capecchi & J. Arcos-Pumarola (Eds.). E-Dictionary of Literary Tourism. University for Foreigners of Perugia.
References
Arthur Ransome Trust. https://www.artur-ransome-trust.org.uk
Bakar, L. (2018, September 27). Postman Pat creator John Cunliffe dies. The Guardian.https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/sep/27/postman-pat-creator-john-cunliffe-dies
Beer, J. B. (2024). “Samuel Taylor Coleridge”. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Taylor-Coleridge
Brantwood (n.d.). https://www.brantwood.org.uk/about/
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2024). “Beatrix Potter”. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Beatrix-Potter
Hammond, W. G. (2024). “Arthur Ransome”. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arthur-Ransome
International Movie Database (IMDB) (2024). John Cunliffe Biography. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1789524/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
Jerwood. https://jerwood.org/capital-projects/jerwood-centre/
Lake District Literary Tour – Cumbrian Writers and Poets (n.d.). https://www.cumbriaslivingheritage.co.uk/literature/
Lake District National Park (2024). Lake District facts and figures. https://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/learning/factsandfigures
Lake District National Park (2024). Famous Lake District writers: Beatrix Potter, Wordsworth, and Ruskin. https://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/learning/archaeologyhistory/famouswriters
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Parrish, M. S. (2024). “William Wordsworth”. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Wordsworth
The Literary Society Arthur Ransome (n.d.). https://www.arthur-ransome.org
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2024). “Lake District”. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/place/Lake-District-region-and-national-park-England
UNESCO (2024). The English Lake District. https://www.whc.unesco.org/en/list/422
UNESCO (2017, July 9). Three new sites and two extensions added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. UNESCO News. https://www.whc.unesco.org
Wainwright, A.(n.d.). Alfred Wainwright Books and Memorabilia. https://www.alfredwainwright.co.uk/alfred-wainwright-alfred-wainwright-books-memorabilia/
Wordsworth Grasmere. https://www.wordsworth.org.uk
Wordsworth, W. & Yoshikawa, S. (2022). Guide to the Lakes. Oxford University Press.