The River Greta is a river 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. Cumb ...

, England. It is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the River Derwent and flows through the town of Keswick. "Greta" derives from the Old Norse "Griótá", meaning "stony stream".Ekwall, p. 205 The name is in records dating from the early 13th century, and also appears in Latinised form, as "Gretagila", at the time of

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...

The source of the river is near

Threlkeld Threlkeld is a village and civil parish in the north of the Lake District in Cumbria, England, to the east of Keswick. It lies at the southern foot of Blencathra, one of the more prominent fells in the northern Lake District, and to the nort ...

, at the confluence of the

River Glenderamackin The River Glenderamackin, the Glendermackin or Glendermackin Beck is a watercourse in Cumbria, England. It is a headstream of the Greta. The river rises on Mungrisdale Common north of Blencathra and drains much of the eastern and southern si ...

and St. John's Beck. From there, the river runs westward, roughly aligned with the former

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 ...

between Keswick and Penrith. The river subsequently flows through Keswick before joining the Derwent just after the latter flows out of

Derwentwater Derwentwater, or Derwent Water, is one of the principal bodies of water in the Lake District National Park in north west England. It lies wholly within the Borough of Allerdale, in the county of Cumbria. The lake occupies part of Borrowda ...

.Jenkinson, pp. 131, 183 and 189 The medieval bridge over the river in Keswick was unusual in having two arches; on the great coach road from

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...

all but two of the other bridges ( Troutbeck and

Portinscale Portinscale is a village in Cumbria, England, close to the western shore of Derwentwater in the Lake District National Park from Keswick. Portinscale is in the civil parish of Above Derwent, the district of Allerdale, the county of Cumbria, ...

) crossed their rivers in a single span. The current Greta Bridge in Keswick is another two-arch structure, built in 1926.Thompson, pp. 347–348 The major tributaries of the Greta are Naddle Beck and Glenderaterra Beck.

Literary associations

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 ' ...

’s sonnet ‘To the River Greta, near Keswick’, was written in 1823.G Lindop, ''A Literary Guide to the Lake District'' (London 1993) p. 176 *

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

, referring to the sound of the boulders in the (19th C) stream, claimed that its name “literally rendered in modern English is ‘The Loud Lamenter’ - to Griet in the Cumbrian Dialect signifying to roar aloud for grief or pain –: and it does ‘’roar’’ with a vengeance!”.

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* * * Greta 1Greta {{England-river-stub

Literary associations

See also

Notes

References