Kirkstone Pass is a mountain pass in the English Lake District, 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. C ...

. It is at an altitude of . It is the District's highest pass traversed by road, the A592 road between

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 ...

in Rothay Valley and

Patterdale Patterdale (Saint Patrick's Dale) is a small village and civil parish in the eastern part of the English Lake District in the Eden District of Cumbria, in the traditional county of Westmorland, and the long valley in which they are found, also ...

Ullswater Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being about long and wide, with a maximum depth a little over . It was scooped out by a glacier in the Last Ice Age. Geography It is a typical Lake District "ribbon lake", ...

Valley. The road gradient approaches 1 in 4. The picturesque view down into Patterdale has Brothers Water as its focal point. The Kirkstone Pass Inn stands close to the summit. Once a vital coaching inn, it now caters primarily for

tourists Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

. It is the third-highest

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

in England.

Slate quarrying

Lead and copper ore mining and slate mining has spanned centuries. Petts Quarry worked by Kirkstone Green Slate Company is just to the Ambleside side of the summit. Nearby is Hartsop Hall lead mine. Caudale slate mine is a few miles further down, on the Ullswater side, and was last worked at the beginning of the 20th century; all its adits are now blocked.

Name

The name of the pass comes from a prominent stone, the Kirkstone, which stands a few yards from the A592 on the Patterdale side of the inn. Its shadow resembles a steeple; 'kirk' means church in old Norse and was a variant in related

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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...

. In local names the climb from Ambleside is known as ''The Struggle''.

Cultural references

In '' Cue For Treason'', best-known novel of children's writer

Geoffrey Trease (Robert) Geoffrey Trease FRSL (11 August 1909 – 27 January 1998) was a prolific British writer who published 113 books, mainly for children, between 1934 and 1997, starting with '' Bows Against the Barons'' and ending with ''Cloak for a Spy'' ...

, much of it set in Cumbria, the narrator's friend long uses the name "Kit Kirkstone", taken from the pass. "Witch of the Westmorland" by musician

Archie Fisher Archie Macdonald Fisher (born 23 October 1939) is a Scottish folk singer and songwriter. He has released several solo albums since his first, eponymous album, in 1968. Fisher composed the song "The Final Trawl", recorded on the album ''Windwa ...

includes the lyric ''"weary by Ullswater, and the misty brake fern way, down through the cleft of the Kirkstone Pass, the winding water lay"''.

Gallery

File:Kirkstone Pass to Brothers.jpg, Kirkstone Pass descending to Brothers Water File:Kirkstone Pass Inn (Close Up) 2014.jpg, The Kirkstone Pass Inn File:The Kirk Stone - geograph.org.uk - 1054199.jpg, The church-like Kirk Stone at right, and nearby a nearly cuboid stone File:The Struggle Road Sign Bottom.jpg, The bottom of The Struggle in

Notes

References

External links

*{{commons category inline, Kirkstone Pass Roads in Cumbria Mountain passes of the Lake District Westmorland Eden District