Braithwaite is a village in the northern

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or '' fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

, in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

, England.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th c ...

, it lies just to the west of Keswick and to the east of the Grisedale Pike ridge, in the Borough of Allerdale. It forms part of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Above Derwent. The eastern end of the

Whinlatter Pass The Whinlatter Pass is a mountain pass in the English Lake District. It is located on the B5292 road linking Braithwaite, to the west of Keswick, with High Lorton to the south of Cockermouth. To the north the pass is flanked by Whinlatter ...

road is in the village. The

A66 road The A66 is a major road in Northern England, which in part follows the course of the Roman road from Scotch Corner to Penrith. It runs from east of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire to Workington in Cumbria. Route From its easter ...

bypasses Braithwaite, but does not enter the village. Braithwaite is situated around Coledale Beck, a brook which joins Newlands Beck shortly after passing through the village. Newlands Beck (coming from the Newlands Valley) then flows north towards

Bassenthwaite Lake Bassenthwaite Lake is one of the largest water bodies in the English Lake District. It is long and narrow, approximately long and wide, but is also extremely shallow, with a maximum depth of about . It is the only body of water in the Lake ...

. Braithwaite has a Village Shop by the Low Bridge, several pubs, including the Coledale Inn, the Royal Oak and the Middle Ruddings Hotel. Braithwaite is easily accessible due to its close proximity to the A66. It has a campsite with a caravan park, B + Bs, pubs and guest houses. It has a wide range of sports including sailing, climbing,

abseiling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...

, canoeing,

hang-gliding Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

parasailing Parasailing, also known as parascending, paraskiing or parakiting, is a recreational kiting activity where a person is towed behind a vehicle while attached to a specially designed canopy wing that resembles a parachute, known as a parasail w ...

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a ...

, bird watching (For

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

s in the nearby lakes), photography and virtually any other outdoor pursuit all within four miles of the village. Nearby is the Hope Memorial Camp, a residential centre used throughout the year by youth groups from all over the country. The camp was the brain-child of Mr A H Hope, Headmaster of The Roan School, Greenwich (now The John Roan School) from 1916 to 1930. In 1923, with his own money, Hope bought forty acres of land to the north-west of the village and built four huts on it, to provide his South London grammar school boys with 'an opportunity of seeing mountains and lakes and of having the valuable experience of camping and living at close quarters with others.' With the aid of The Roan Foundation, the original green and white painted wooden structures were replaced in 1989 by more substantial ones using modern building materials. There is an

Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church * Oriental Orthodox Churches * Orthodox Presbyterian Church * Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand * State church of the Roman Empire * True Orthodox church See also * Orthodox (d ...

in Braithwaite, dedicated to a few British Saints: Saints Bega, Mungo and Herbert. They are under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Great Britain through the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

. The Church is an old Methodist Church and was purchased from them in 2017. The

Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway (CK&PR) was an English railway company incorporated by Act of Parliament on 1 August 1861, to build a line connecting the town of Cockermouth with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) West Coast ...

, now closed, called at a station in Braithwaite. Braithwaite is situated next to the

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...

called Barrow. A small mountain in the Newlands region which is a short walk from Braithwaite. Braithwaite is near to the Whinlatter Forest which has many walking trails of varying length. Braithwaite Farm hosts a small business hub which includes Keswick Groomers, The Flight Park, Milican, Alpacaly Ever After (offices) and KCS - IT Support & Web Design.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Above Derwent
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)

Villages in Cumbria Allerdale {{Cumbria-geo-stub