How good it is to be back in the Eden Valley after a week in Brussels. A string of lectures, project supervision and a panel debate with Euro-officials and politicians were hard work but very enjoyable, especially the days spent with a group of twentyfive wonderful 20-25 year old students from countries all over Europe.

The River Eden looking upstream to the Stenkrith Bridges

These photographs were taken three months ago in early July. This weekend the roar of the water was much stronger.

Two bridges can be seen here. The road bridge towering over the Millennium footbridge also, to the left of the photo, crosses the track bed of the railway that used to climb up from Cumbria and drop down into County Durham over the Stainmore pass. The railway then had to cross the Eden. That bridge is long gone, but its foundations can still be seen and there’s a river viewing point accessible from the caravan park on the other side.

Stenkrith is one of the many “hidden treasures” of the Eden Valley. It deserves to be far better known but at the same time its quietness, apart from the music of the water, is one of its great attractions.

The River Eden in July, looking downstream below Stenkrith Bridge

“Ratty” is not here an animal character from a children’s book but the name popularly given to a railway – The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway – and this year (2011) is the fiftieth anniversary of its being saved from permanent closure.

Below is an article, slightly updated, which was originally written in early 2009 for one of our older sites.

Today “Ratty” is an important tourist attraction on the west coast fringe of the Lake District, carrying visitors from Ravenglass village up into the mountains, but when it opened in 1875 it had a much more practical purpose. Iron ore deposits close to the head of Eskdale valley were the attraction for the Whitehaven Mining Company, but there was a little problem of how to get the ore down to the coastal railway station at Drigg.

The following year (after correcting a long list of inadequacies highlighted by a Board of Trade inspector) it was opened also to passengers. No-one, though, could then have foreseen how generations of visitors, young and old, would crowd these coaches for the seven mile scenic ride up into the fells.

This little railway’s story has not always been one of success and prosperity. Having initially been built as a 3 foot gauge line it passed through hard times, including the bankruptcy of its parent company, and lay derelict for several years before the first world war. In 1915, however, it was reopened with a track gauge of only 1 ft. 3 ins. and became known for some time as “the smallest railway in the world”.

Although its name includes Eskdale its route does not follow the river Esk from Ravenglass but rather the more northerly Mite past Murthwaite, until several miles inland it crosses over past Irton to Eskdale Green and so to Beckfoot and Dalegarth near Boot.

The iron ore of Eskdale did not prove to be economical viable. Granite from Beckfoot quarry gave considerable business to the line for many years until the 50s, but its long term survival has been founded on the same combination as many other previously industrial developments in the Lake District – delightful scenery and visitors wishing to enjoy it.

My own memories of the “Ratty” go back to around 1950 and trips with aunts and cousins on the mainline train around the Duddon estuary from Askam to Ravenglass, then in the open carriages up the the Ravenglass Railway, or “the little railway” as we knew it. In the early 60s I introduced my fiancee to the delights of Dalegarth and its waterfall, and we still have the photographs. In fact it is to that period that my earliest Lake District photographs can be dated. Much later, in the 80s, business drew me back repeatedly to stay at the Bower House in Eskdale Green, and my acquaintance with “Ratty” was renewed.

The branching lines, beyond where Dalegarth station now is, were abandoned very early in the 20th century but in the 30s there was a proposal for extending it. The idea was to go beyond Dalegarth “either by rack railway or aerial ropeway” to the summit of Scafell. The Lake District, though, was not destined to get its equivalent of the Snowdon Mountain Railway. Will it ever? I doubt it.

Click here for the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway web site

Click here for visitor accommodation in Ravenglass and nearby.

Last night, while scanning my shelves, I came across a book that I must have bought around twenty years ago, Roads and Trackways of The Yorkshire Dales, by Geoffrey N. Wright. I couldn’t recall reading it before so spent an hour or so, with everything except eyes under the duvet, reading the first few chapters.

This book of over 200 pages (initially published in hardback in 1985, and reprinted as a paperback in 1990) provides an captivating  description of the way lanes and roads in the Dales evolved over many centuries.  Starting with ancient hunter-gatherers and the transportation across the region (even to continental Europe) of axeheads produced in the Lake District, through the needs of the Roman military machine , into the Middle Ages with the massive impact of agricultural development, especially under the Cistercian monks in their abbeys of Rievaulx, Fountains and elsewhere.

I found it especially interesting to see how the author explored the writings of travellers in the Tudor and Stuart periods, who seemed especially keen to record the bridges they crossed, and so gave hints as to the routes they followed from place to place.  Then of course, there were the almost regal journeys of Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, that doughty mistress of Skipton Castle and owner of castles, houses and vast estates from Skipton to Penrith and beyond.

This is a fascinating book.  Be warned, though, that unless you have a detailed map of the region firmly planted in your brain you will probably need one in front of you as you read. The book does rather assume that its readers know the territory quite well.  However, that’s a minor difficulty.

It’s a pity that Roads and Trackways of The Yorkshire Dales is not currently in print. I’ve checked, though, and paperback copies are available secondhand from Amazon here. (Buy a copy labelled “Very Good”; remember that “Good” in secondhand parlance all too often means “just about holding together” or “creased and stained but reasonably legible”).  There are also hardcover copies available.

Janet’s Foss, near Malham – Image via Wikipedia

With the beginning of 2010 not only am I expanding the blog to cover a wider area of the North of England (see my post about the changes at Around-England 2010) but I’m also starting a series of news updates about different areas of the region which I hope will interest people. My aim will be to bring to the surface items that might otherwise be missed, as well as giving easy access to different angles on already well-known news. So here goes with No. 1 of the Yorkshire Dales series.

The BBC early evening series on Great British Railway Journeys, fronted by Michael Portillo, has visited several of the areas covered by this blog – including the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. If you’ve not seen the programmes you can catch the series on BBC iPlayer.  (This link takes you to last night’s programme; the others are easily found from there).

I had of course remembered Portillo’s earlier political career and his time as Minister for Defence, but had forgotten that he was previously Minister of Transport.  It was fascinating to hear him say that among all the many things he was involved with over those years in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet he considered the saving of the Settle to Carlisle railway line, and especially the great Ribblehead viaduct, to have been one of his major achievements. Here’s another blogger’s take on the programme as it visited Dent.

The Barrister Blog: Blacksmith in Dent in the Yorkshire Dales
One of the people who is featured is Lucy Sandys-Clarke who is a blacksmith in Dent which is at the top of the Yorkshire Dales and just down the road from Sedbergh and the Howgill Fells. It’s fantastic to see traditional crafts …
Publish Date: 01/12/2010 20:13
http://timkevan.blogspot.com/

Ribblehead Viaduct, Settle-Carlisle Railway – Photo by: Andrew Barker – Fotolia.com

A second item for today comes from the editor of the Dalesman who earlier this week blogged about the consultation currently being carried out by Natural England into possible extensions to both the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks.  Like me, he appears to be somewhat sceptical as to the merits of the scheme.  I’m not opposed to protection of the countryside, of course not, but am not at all certain of the benefits from layers of bureaucratic planning control.  In fact, I suspect that if they’d had planning authorities in the Middle Ages most of the beautiful natural and built environment which we now fondly protect would never have come into existence.

Proposed extension to National Park
A public consultation is currently under way on four proposed extensions to the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks. Residents, businesses and landowners are all being asked to let their views known to Natural England on …
Publish Date: 01/11/2010 7:58
http://www.news.dalesman.co.uk/

Having said that, I’ll once again show myself up to be inconsistent.  We certainly need planning authorities to slow the steady march of windfarms across some of the most beautiful areas of our countryside.

Yorkshire Dales News: Dales windfarm enquiry opens
One of the most important planning enquiries held in the Yorkshire Dales for many years opens next Tuesday (January 12) to decide whether some of the finest landscape in the north of England will be dominated by five huge wind turbines …
Publish Date: 01/06/2010 18:00
http://www.daelnet.co.uk/

OK, that’s enough for this week.  I’ll try to get another one out about the same time each week.

The copper mines around Coniston were worked from at least the middle of the 16th century and, with a number of breaks in production in between, up to end of the 19th when competition from high-grade ore imported from overseas killed this local Lake District industry.

Coniston Old Man, the mountain behind Coniston village, was a source of large amounts of copper ore. This ore was initially carried by pack horses to be processed at Keswick but from the 18th century onwards was transported by boat down Coniston Water and then carted by road to the coast.

Today the homes of generations of Coniston copper mine workers are mostly holiday cottages and the old mine workings are a tourist attraction, albeit mostly for those with enough energy to do some walking.

Anyone interested in old industries, or simply in the ways our forefathers earned their livelihood, or in the processes by which today’s Lake District landscape was shaped, will want to explore this aspect of Coniston’s past – either on the ground or in an armchair (see Coniston Copper Mines: A Field Guide by Eric G Holland).

Eric Holland’s much larger book, Coniston Copper: A History, gives a more extensive treatment of the subject. It is out of print but can still be found, albeit often quite expensive, at some book dealers either new or secondhand.

There is also a later blog post on the Coppermines at Coniston, expanding on this fascinating aspect of Lake District history.

In a previous posting I mentioned recently visiting the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway after staying overnight at Muncaster Castle, Ravenglass.  During the same trip, while further north, I had a chance to slip into Michael Moon’s bookshop in Whitehaven.  I’d not gone for anything in particular but enjoyed maybe thirty minutes just browsing around and came out with a small paperback book about the Coniston railway.

Nowadays many people may be surprised to know that Coniston ever had a railway, but in fact for almost a hundred years there was a branch line from Foxfield through Torver to Coniston.  The Coniston copper mines were the principal reason for its existence in the early days but by the time it was eventually functioning in 1859 cheaper sources of copper were available from other areas of the world (globalisation is nothing new!) and in later years it became principally a tourist line – a wonderful entry point to the southwestern Lakes and, although popular, far less crowded than Windermere.

Personally I recall travelling on it as a child, catching the train from Askam, on the southern shore of the Duddon estuary with my grandfather and changing at Foxfield for the short trip up to Coniston.
That was in the early 50s. The line became seriously uneconomical (he clearly didn’t take me often enough!) and closed to passengers in 1958.

The Coniston Railway by Robert Western (ISBN: 978 0 85361 667 2) from Amazon.co.uk. (By the way, if Amazon says they have none look below the “out-of-stock” paragraph; there may be Amazon 3rd party dealers with copies; that was the case when I checked just now).

Over the past thirty years of driving up to Whitehaven, I’ve often looked across the valley to Muncaster Castle on the hillside above the River Esk not far from Ravenglass. Last week, though, I had reason to stop there. On my way north in the morning, and looking for somewhere to spend the night before driving back south, I spotted a B&B sign outside the gate to the castle’s plant centre.

Muncaster Castle west front, c1955
Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.

During a long career I’ve spent much of my time out and about around the UK and further afield, staying overnight in everything from country village pubs and b&b acommodation to five star hotels. Rarely, however, have I experienced B&B to the standard of Muncaster Castle “Coachman’s Quarters”. I was welcomed warmly by the ladies in the office, and having been shown around and booked my room I drove on past Ravenglass to Egremont, Whitehaven and Workington before returning to Muncaster in the evening.

The room itself, with en suite shower room, was comfortable and scrupulously clean (and with a plentiful supply of tea and coffee – a key point with me). The substantial cooked, “full English”, breakfast with lots of options was just what I like when away from home. The accommodation can also be booked for self-catering, and there was a well-equipped kitchen and dining area just down the corridor from my room. I could have used it if I’d wanted (and had the food with me). My preference though was to sit back with a book in the comfortable armchairs of the spacious lounge which, being a winter night with few people travelling in this area, I had entirely to myself.

The castle and gardens are not open to visitors at this time of year (see correction in the comments below), so in the morning before heading south to my next appointment I did a small detour down to the coast to visit the famous narrow gauge Ravenglass railway. Sadly, being out of season there was not a puff of smoke or jet of steam to be seen but it was pleasant to cast my mind back to my first visit as a child with my grandfather almost sixty years ago and a later visit in my early twenties to introduce my fiancé to this less well known part of the Lake District.

Well that’s enough maudlin diversion; let’s get back to today! If you’re en route to the West Cumbrian coast or visiting the Western Lakes you’ll find it hard to get better b&b than the Coachman’s Quarters at Muncaster Castle – or close by take a look at Muncaster Country Guest House.

See also: Where to go on the West Cumbria Coast

Updated November 2011

The overcrowding of the Lake District roads has long been a problem at peak times of the year. Why not contribute to the traffic reduction by leaving you car either at home completely or in the hotel carpark or on the campsite?

What!? I can almost hear the howls of outrage. It’s surely impossible!

Maybe. Maybe not. Certainly without a degree of planning it would be difficult to use public transport to move around the Lakes, but with planning a great deal changes. What’s more, this afternoon I’ve found a tool that should be a massive help.

It’s an online public transport journey planner for Cumbria. (Actually it’s for the Northeast and Cumbria!). I tested it by requesting timetables for Glenridding to Newby Bridge, and Staveley to Buttermere.  Sure the journey time for the first of these was long, not advisable for a day trip unless you really like looking out of a bus window, but I was very impressed with the second.  This system really does work, and for short journeys I’d describe it as an outstanding resource.

Take a look, and see whether you can contribute to emission reductions in the Lake District.

- David Murray -

What is now the Keswick Country House Hotel was originally built by the company that in 1865 launched the Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway. As their new railway line into the northern Lake District replaced the previous three-hour (minimum!) journey from the Penrith mainline station by horse-drawn coach, the tourist trade expanded rapidly. A new hotel was needed alongside the station. A hundred and forty years later the hotel has adopted twentyfirst century standards while the station house now houses several executive class rooms as an extension of the hotel. The trains stopped coming to Keswick more than thirty-five years ago.

Last night while searching through a pile of old Lake District brochures in my study, looking for something entirely different from what I eventually found, I came across a book I’d forgotten about but which I presumably bought on a visit to Keswick some years back. It kept me up late reading. Here it is, a fascinatingly detailed account of the history of the railway line that ran east to west across the northern lakes area.

I’ve created a page about it on our English Lakes site with the title, “By Train to Keswick“, but if you really want to know more about this piece of Lake District history, click on the book here to see whether there’s a copy available from Biblio.com. Alternatively, try Amazon.co.uk.

Note: This book seems now to be quite rare. Shop around between the two sources here, as each will probably list several alternative book dealers – and prices tend to vary widely.

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes