Places to go in the Keswick
The original focus of settlement at Keswick was at Great Crosthwaite, some distance to the west of the present town but still the site of a pleasantly rural church. This was, indeed, the mother church of the vast parish of Borrowdale; it is dedicated to St Kentigem, an early evangelist who was reputedly the builder of the first church on the site in 533AD. As late as 1306 Crosthwaite market was supplying 'com, flour, beans, peas, linen and cloth, fish and flesh' on Sundays, while Keswick was little more than the 'dairy farm' indicated by its place-name.
Medieval Keswick
A number of factors contributed to the rise of Keswick in medieval times, notably the energy of the Derwentwater family in obtaining a market charter and its role as a centre for the mining enterprises in Borrowdale and the Newlands valley; ores from the mines here were smelted at Brigham, in the Greta valley just upstream from the town centre. The discovery of plumbago (also called wadd, black lead and graphite) on the fell side above Seathwaite in Borrowdale encouraged further growth with the opening of the world's first pencil factory at Keswick in 1566. The Cumberland Pencil Factory is the modern successor to that first enterprise, though for some considerable time now its supplies of graphite have been imported.
In the late medieval period Keswick was in some difficulties, for the mining industry had entered a period of recession in about 1650, and the woollen industry at its height in the sixteenth century, when complete hamlets such as Millbeck were dependent on it was also in retreat, with mills closing or turning to cotton. The town was described as 'greatly decayed and much inferior to what it was formerly' in 1749. Tourism arrived in the nick of time, growing even more rapidly after the arrival of the railway in 1864, so that 'Lakes Specials' were running between London Euston and Keswick by 1900. Though the railway is no longer there the hotels and guest houses survive, indicators of the importance of tourism to the town today.
Penrith the Lake District
Although Penrith, like Kendal and Cockermouth, lies outside the National Park, it is one of its main market centres. As with the others it was sited close to a Roman fort in this case Brocavum (Brougham) a little distance to the south. Henry III established a market at Penrith in 1123, though it had been in existence as a settlement providing services for northsouth travellers for some time before this.
The churchyard gives some clues to this earlier phase of the town's existence, for it contains Viking hogback tombstones and some slightly battered sandstone crosses which also predate the Normans.The grant of the market charter led to considerable growth, particularly since Penrith had the status of a royal manor after Richard Ill's accession and was the centre of the Honour of Penrith a territory which included much of Inglewood Forest and the Eden valley. It is still possible to walk around the town and recognise from its layout the main elements of its medieval success, in particular the succession of open spaces rich formed specialised market places.
These include Sandgate, Burrowgate, Market Square, Corn Market and Great Dockray. Whilst Market Square saw trade in a variety of goods such as woollens, meat, poultry, eggs and butter, the huge, irregular space at Great Dockray was the site of the important Penrith cattle fairs, and Sandgate was the home of the weekly stock market as well as of the cruel sport of bull baiting until it was suppressed in the early nineteenth century. Penrith's position astride the main route from Scotland to the south, together with its medieval importance as a trade centre, made it an easy and also an important target for the Scots border raiders, and it suffered accordingly.
Penrith and the Scottish border raids
The town was sacked in 1314, after Bannockburn, burned by 'Black Douglas' in 1345, and burned again in 1382. The castle, which was progressively enlarged throughout the Middle Ages in response to the border raids, still stands as a massive sandstone reminder of these troubled times. In the times of peace which followed the Union, Penrith prospered again and the town had become a principal stopping point for stagecoaches by 1800; it was, however, left behind in the Industrial Revolution because it was unable to develop industries based on water power, and although the railway added a new artisans' quarter, Castletown, to the town its status declined somewhat, and it now functions mainly as a market centre for the surrounding area.
Ulverston the Lake District
Whilst Ulverston has a long history and was a successful market town in the sixteenth century its major period of development came two hundred years later, when it became a busy industrial town and port-though this is by no means immediately obvious to the casual visitor today. The parish church dates from the twelfth century, but was much restored in Georgian and again in Victorian times, and the town received a market charter in 1280. It was not until the Elizabethan era, however, that it really began to prosper.
Ulverston began by taking trade from Dalton-in-Furness after the dissolution of the monasteries had robbed Dalton of the important patronage of Furness Abbey (an outbreak of plague in 1631 finally sealed Dalton's fate), and continued to such good effect that it seriously affected trade at the markets of Broughton, Cartmel and Hawkshead. In 1805 Thomas West commented that the market place, by now surrounded by a variety of buildings in the attractive local limestone, was too small to accommodate all the business transacted there.
Industry in Ulverston
Ulverston built on this success in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, using its natural advantages of local iron ore, charcoal from nearby High Furness, and water power, and combining them with an ambitious scheme to develop the town as a port. A mile long canal was dug to link Ulverston to the sea, and an export trade in iron ore boomed, with wharves close to the town and a 'capacious basin' busy with seagoing traffic. Other exports included slate from the quarries of southern Lakeland, cotton, canvas, sailcloth and the like from the town's mills, and local leather, gunpowder, and timber. Shipbuilding became an important employer, together with the manufacture of anchors and ships' chains. The population rose to an estimated 50,000 (more than three times the present figure).
It was, of course, too good to last. The emergence of Barrow-in--Furness hit hard, the canal began to silt up, and the Ulverston ironworks were overtaken by others using more modern and efficient processes. Now, although some new industries have come, Ulverston has reverted to its former role as a quiet country town, one which only really comes to life on Thursdays, when the boisterous and colourful market is the focus of attention. The canal, however, is still worth following from the town to the Leven estuary at Canal Foot.
Kendal and things to do
The town of Windermere grew in response to forces which were quite different from those which affected the other towns described in this chapter. Though there was settlement in the area in prehistoric times -the site at High Borrans, just above the town, may be Iron Age in date Windermere existed merely as a hamlet called Birthwaite until 1847. The order consecrating the chapel andparochial graveyard in 1348 was not a sign of growth; in fact it was quite the opposite, since it was a direct response to the Black Death. The hamlet's elevation to urban status was a consequence of the opening of the Kendal and Windermere railway in that year, despite the ardent protests of conservationists, who almost inevitably included Wordsworth among their number.
Modern-day Windermere offers visitors a vast range of things to see and do, including boat trips around the lake, a wide choice of top restaurants, bars and cafés in Bowness and some of the best hotels in the lakes. If you are planning a romantic weekend, book a room at one of the hot tub hotels in Bowness.
Windermere conservation
The conservationists may have been defeated here but were able to chalk up a victory somewhat later, when the plans for the extension of the railway to Ambleside were thrown out. Birthwaite became a magnet for tourists and also for wealthy businessmen, who clamoured to build ever more ostentatious Italianate and Victorian gothic residences along the shores of Windermere lake and along the roads leading from Bowness to the former hamlet, which for commercial reasons was renamed Windermere.
The pace of expansion and the lack of controls in the nineteenth century have created a sprawling form of development alien to the area, though its impact is reduced by the local topography and the well wooded nature of the area. Many of the businessmen's houses are now hotels and guest houses; the town inevitably lacks historical interest, though it fulfils its primary function of tourist centre admirably.
Medieval Keswick
A number of factors contributed to the rise of Keswick in medieval times, notably the energy of the Derwentwater family in obtaining a market charter and its role as a centre for the mining enterprises in Borrowdale and the Newlands valley; ores from the mines here were smelted at Brigham, in the Greta valley just upstream from the town centre. The discovery of plumbago (also called wadd, black lead and graphite) on the fell side above Seathwaite in Borrowdale encouraged further growth with the opening of the world's first pencil factory at Keswick in 1566. The Cumberland Pencil Factory is the modern successor to that first enterprise, though for some considerable time now its supplies of graphite have been imported.
In the late medieval period Keswick was in some difficulties, for the mining industry had entered a period of recession in about 1650, and the woollen industry at its height in the sixteenth century, when complete hamlets such as Millbeck were dependent on it was also in retreat, with mills closing or turning to cotton. The town was described as 'greatly decayed and much inferior to what it was formerly' in 1749. Tourism arrived in the nick of time, growing even more rapidly after the arrival of the railway in 1864, so that 'Lakes Specials' were running between London Euston and Keswick by 1900. Though the railway is no longer there the hotels and guest houses survive, indicators of the importance of tourism to the town today.
Penrith the Lake District
Although Penrith, like Kendal and Cockermouth, lies outside the National Park, it is one of its main market centres. As with the others it was sited close to a Roman fort in this case Brocavum (Brougham) a little distance to the south. Henry III established a market at Penrith in 1123, though it had been in existence as a settlement providing services for northsouth travellers for some time before this.
The churchyard gives some clues to this earlier phase of the town's existence, for it contains Viking hogback tombstones and some slightly battered sandstone crosses which also predate the Normans.The grant of the market charter led to considerable growth, particularly since Penrith had the status of a royal manor after Richard Ill's accession and was the centre of the Honour of Penrith a territory which included much of Inglewood Forest and the Eden valley. It is still possible to walk around the town and recognise from its layout the main elements of its medieval success, in particular the succession of open spaces rich formed specialised market places.
These include Sandgate, Burrowgate, Market Square, Corn Market and Great Dockray. Whilst Market Square saw trade in a variety of goods such as woollens, meat, poultry, eggs and butter, the huge, irregular space at Great Dockray was the site of the important Penrith cattle fairs, and Sandgate was the home of the weekly stock market as well as of the cruel sport of bull baiting until it was suppressed in the early nineteenth century. Penrith's position astride the main route from Scotland to the south, together with its medieval importance as a trade centre, made it an easy and also an important target for the Scots border raiders, and it suffered accordingly.
Penrith and the Scottish border raids
The town was sacked in 1314, after Bannockburn, burned by 'Black Douglas' in 1345, and burned again in 1382. The castle, which was progressively enlarged throughout the Middle Ages in response to the border raids, still stands as a massive sandstone reminder of these troubled times. In the times of peace which followed the Union, Penrith prospered again and the town had become a principal stopping point for stagecoaches by 1800; it was, however, left behind in the Industrial Revolution because it was unable to develop industries based on water power, and although the railway added a new artisans' quarter, Castletown, to the town its status declined somewhat, and it now functions mainly as a market centre for the surrounding area.
Ulverston the Lake District
Whilst Ulverston has a long history and was a successful market town in the sixteenth century its major period of development came two hundred years later, when it became a busy industrial town and port-though this is by no means immediately obvious to the casual visitor today. The parish church dates from the twelfth century, but was much restored in Georgian and again in Victorian times, and the town received a market charter in 1280. It was not until the Elizabethan era, however, that it really began to prosper.
Ulverston began by taking trade from Dalton-in-Furness after the dissolution of the monasteries had robbed Dalton of the important patronage of Furness Abbey (an outbreak of plague in 1631 finally sealed Dalton's fate), and continued to such good effect that it seriously affected trade at the markets of Broughton, Cartmel and Hawkshead. In 1805 Thomas West commented that the market place, by now surrounded by a variety of buildings in the attractive local limestone, was too small to accommodate all the business transacted there.
Industry in Ulverston
Ulverston built on this success in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, using its natural advantages of local iron ore, charcoal from nearby High Furness, and water power, and combining them with an ambitious scheme to develop the town as a port. A mile long canal was dug to link Ulverston to the sea, and an export trade in iron ore boomed, with wharves close to the town and a 'capacious basin' busy with seagoing traffic. Other exports included slate from the quarries of southern Lakeland, cotton, canvas, sailcloth and the like from the town's mills, and local leather, gunpowder, and timber. Shipbuilding became an important employer, together with the manufacture of anchors and ships' chains. The population rose to an estimated 50,000 (more than three times the present figure).
It was, of course, too good to last. The emergence of Barrow-in--Furness hit hard, the canal began to silt up, and the Ulverston ironworks were overtaken by others using more modern and efficient processes. Now, although some new industries have come, Ulverston has reverted to its former role as a quiet country town, one which only really comes to life on Thursdays, when the boisterous and colourful market is the focus of attention. The canal, however, is still worth following from the town to the Leven estuary at Canal Foot.
Kendal and things to do
The town of Windermere grew in response to forces which were quite different from those which affected the other towns described in this chapter. Though there was settlement in the area in prehistoric times -the site at High Borrans, just above the town, may be Iron Age in date Windermere existed merely as a hamlet called Birthwaite until 1847. The order consecrating the chapel andparochial graveyard in 1348 was not a sign of growth; in fact it was quite the opposite, since it was a direct response to the Black Death. The hamlet's elevation to urban status was a consequence of the opening of the Kendal and Windermere railway in that year, despite the ardent protests of conservationists, who almost inevitably included Wordsworth among their number.
Modern-day Windermere offers visitors a vast range of things to see and do, including boat trips around the lake, a wide choice of top restaurants, bars and cafés in Bowness and some of the best hotels in the lakes. If you are planning a romantic weekend, book a room at one of the hot tub hotels in Bowness.
Windermere conservation
The conservationists may have been defeated here but were able to chalk up a victory somewhat later, when the plans for the extension of the railway to Ambleside were thrown out. Birthwaite became a magnet for tourists and also for wealthy businessmen, who clamoured to build ever more ostentatious Italianate and Victorian gothic residences along the shores of Windermere lake and along the roads leading from Bowness to the former hamlet, which for commercial reasons was renamed Windermere.
The pace of expansion and the lack of controls in the nineteenth century have created a sprawling form of development alien to the area, though its impact is reduced by the local topography and the well wooded nature of the area. Many of the businessmen's houses are now hotels and guest houses; the town inevitably lacks historical interest, though it fulfils its primary function of tourist centre admirably.
Labels: Kendal
posted by Windermere Boutique Hotels | 07:55
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home