Elter Water is a small lake that lies half a mile (800 m) south-east of the village of

Elterwater Elterwater is a village in the English Lake District and the county of Cumbria. The village lies half a mile (800 m) north-west of the lake of Elter Water, from which it derives its name. Both are situated in the valley of Great Langdale. E ...

. Both are situated in the valley of

Great Langdale Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...

in the English Lake District. The lake is 1030 yd (930 m) long and varies in width up to a maximum of 350 yd (320 m), covering an area of 0.06 mi² (0.15 km²). It has a maximum depth of and an elevation above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

of . The

River Brathay The Brathay is a river of north-west England. Its name comes from Old Norse and means ''broad river''. It rises at a point 1289 feet (393 m) above sea level near the Three Shire Stone at the highest point of Wrynose Pass () in the Lake Distr ...

which provides outflow from Elter Water flows south to join

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in length, and almost 1 mile (1.5 km) at its wides ...

, near

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern headwater) of Windermere, England's larges ...

Etymology

The name ''Elterwater'' means either *''Lake of the Swan'' (" 'The lake frequented by swans', from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

'elptr'/'alpt' 'swan', in the genitive sing. larform with '-ar', and 'water', probably replacing Old Norse 'vatn' 'lake'.

Whooper swan The whooper swan ( /ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/) (''Cygnus cygnus''), also known as the common swan, pronounced ''hooper swan'', is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type speci ...

s still winter on the lake") *or ''Lake of Alder''.Parker, 2004, page 37

Ecology

The lake is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, but there have been problems with water quality, in particular

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

. Navigation is prohibited on the lake.

Cultural references

Thomas Frederick Worrall Thomas Frederick Worrall (1872–1957) was a Staffordshire-born manual worker and talented watercolourist. He lived for a time in Lancashire and in the upper Calder Valley area of Yorkshire but spent most of his adult life in Barry, Vale of Gla ...

painted a watercolour of the lake with Langdale Pikes in the background. This painting is hanging in the Bishop's House, Keswick.

References

Bibliography

External links

Elterwater Park
Lakes of the Lake District Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cumbria Westmorland South Lakeland District {{England-SSSI-stub