The Derwent is a famous

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

in the north of England; it rises in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

and flows northwards through two of its principal lakes, before turning sharply westward to enter the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

The name ''Derwent'' is shared with three other English rivers and is thought to be derived from a Celtic word for "oak trees" (an alternative is ''dour'' "water" and ''(g)-went'' "white / pure". The river's

Old Welsh Old Welsh () is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic around 550, ha ...

name was ''Derwennydd'' and it is believed to be to be the setting of the medieval Welsh lullaby Dinogad's Smock. The river rises at Sprinkling Tarn underneath

Great End Great End is the most northerly mountain in the Sca Fell, Scafell chain, in the English Lake District. From the south it is simply a lump continuing this chain. From the north, however, it appears as an immense mountain, with an imposing nor ...

and flows in a northerly direction through the valley of

Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland, England. It is in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, and is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' to distinguis ...

, before entering

Derwentwater Derwentwater, or Derwent Water, is a lake in the Lake District in North West England, immediately south of Keswick, Cumbria, Keswick. It is in the unitary authority of Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland within the ceremonial county of ...

, which it exits to the north just outside Keswick and is joined by the waters of the River Greta. The Derwent then enters

Bassenthwaite Lake Bassenthwaite Lake is a body of water in the Lake District in North West England, near the town of Keswick. It has an area of , making the fourth largest of the lakes in the region. The lake has a length of approximately long and maximum wid ...

at its southern end; it exits it at its northern end, thereafter flowing generally westward to Cockermouth, where the River Cocker joins it from the south.

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

's childhood home in Cockermouth backed onto the Derwent, and he briefly mentions it in

The Prelude ''The Prelude or, Growth of a Poet's Mind; An Autobiographical Poem '' is an autobiographical poem in blank verse by the English poet William Wordsworth. Intended as the introduction to the more philosophical poem ''The Recluse,'' which Wordswort ...

... the bright blue river passed
along the terrace of our childhood walk;
A tempting playmate whom we dearly loved)Wordsworth, William. 1888. Complete Poetical Works
Bartleby.com. Retrieved on 2014-04-12.

From Cockermouth, the river continues westward past Papcastle, site of the Roman fort of Derventio, is joined by the River Marron near Bridgefoot and continues and onwards to

, where it flows into the

. The River Derwent was officially named by Sir Braelyn Smith in 1634 after he laid claim to the baronies of Allerdale.

References

Rivers of Cumbria Lake District {{England-river-stub

See also

References