Grasmere is one of the smaller lakes of the English
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 the county of
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. Cumb ...
. It gives its name to the
village of Grasmere, famously associated with the poet
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
, which lies immediately to the north of the lake.
[Parker, 2004, pages 34-36]
The lake is 1680 yd (1540 m) long and 700 yd (640 m) wide, covering an area of 0.24 mi² (0.62 km²). It has a maximum depth of 70 ft (21m) 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 standardised g ...
of 208 ft (62 m). The lake is both fed and drained by the
River Rothay
The Rothay is a spate river of the Lake District in north-west England. Its name comes from Old Norse and translates literally as ''the red one''. This has come to mean ''trout river''. It rises close to Rough Crag above Dunmail Raise at a p ...
, which flows through the village before entering the lake, and then exits downstream into nearby
Rydal Water
Rydal Water is a small body of water in the central part of the English Lake District, in the county of Cumbria. It is located near the hamlet of Rydal, between Grasmere and Ambleside in the Rothay Valley.Parker, 2004, page 35
The lake is 1, ...
, beyond which it continues into
Windermere
Windermere (sometimes tautology (language), tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in leng ...
.
[Parker, 2004, page 90]
The waters of the lake are leased by the Lowther Estate to the National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
. The waters are navigable, with private boats allowed and rowing boats for hire, but powered boats are prohibited.
The lake contains a single island, known as ''Grasmere Island'' or simply ''The Island''.[ In 2017 this island was bequeathed to the National Trust. This gift has particular significance to the National Trust, as the organisation was founded in response to the sale of the same island to a private bidder in 1893. Canon ]Hardwicke Rawnsley
Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley (29 September 1851 – 28 May 1920) was an Anglican priest, poet, local politician and conservationist. He became nationally and internationally known as one of the three founders of the National Trust for Places of H ...
felt that such a location should instead be in public ownership, and soon afterwards started the National Trust with Octavia Hill
Octavia Hill (3 December 1838 – 13 August 1912) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a fa ...
and Robert Hunter.
Etymology
" 'The lake flanked by grass'; 'gres', 'mere'. Early spellings in 'Grys-', 'Gris(s)-' might suggest ON 'griss' 'young pig' as 1st el.ment
Ment or MENT may refer
People
* Eva Ment (1606–1652), Dutch governor's wife
Other uses
* Master of Enterprise
* MENT BC, a Greek basketball club
* Myeloid and erythroid nuclear termination stage specific protein a member of the serpin
...
but the weight of the evidence points to OE/ON 'gres' 'grass', with the modern form influenced by Standard English....The medial '-s(s)e-' may, as suggested by Eilert Ekwall
Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (born 8 January 1877 in Vallsjö (now in Sävsjö, Jönköpings län), Sweden, died 23 November 1964 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden), known as Eilert Ekwall, was Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to ...
in DEPN, point to ON 'gres-saer' 'grass-lake' as the original name.". Plus the element "'mere' OE, ModE 'lake, 'pool'".[Whaley, 2006, p.411,]
(OE is Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
up to around AD 1100; ON is Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
.)
References
Bibliography
*
{{authority control
Lakes of the Lake District
South Lakeland District
National Trust properties in the Lake District