Windermere () is a town in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Windermere and Bowness, in the

Westmorland and Furness Westmorland and Furness is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Cumbria, England. The economy is mainly focused on tourism around both the Lake District and Cumbria Coast, shipbuilding and the Royal Port of Barrow, Royal ...

district in the ceremonial county of

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 ...

, England; it is within the

Lake District National Park 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 ...

. The town lies about half a mile (1 km) east of the lake,

Windermere Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Ki ...

, from which it takes its name. In 2021 it had a population of 4,826. While Windermere town does not itself touch the lake, it forms one urban area with the older town of Bowness-on-Windermere, which is directly on the lake shore. Windermere began to grow when the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

and

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

of the same name opened in 1847. Tourism is popular in the town, owing to its proximity to the lake and local scenery. Boats from the

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

s in Bowness sail around the lake, many calling at Ambleside or at Lakeside where there is a restored railway.

History

Historically a part of the county of

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

, Windermere town was known as Birthwaite prior to the arrival of the Kendal and Windermere Railway, which stimulated its development. Windermere station offers

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

and bus connections to the surrounding area, Manchester Airport and the West Coast Main Line. The geological formations around the area take their name from the town. They are called the Windermere Group of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

Etymology

The word "Windermere" is thought to translate as "Winand or Vinand's lake". The specific has usually been identified with an

Old Swedish Old Swedish ( Modern Swedish: ) is the name for two distinct stages of the Swedish language that were spoken in the Middle Ages: Early Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1225 until about 1375, and Late Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1375 unti ...

personal name Vinandr. The other possibility is for a Continental Germanic name Wīnand. The second element is

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

'mere', meaning 'lake' or 'pool'. There is a reference to "Wynandermer" in 1396.

Governance

Windermere was from 1894 to 1974 governed by an urban district council which in 1905 absorbed the former Bowness-on-Windermere UDC although Bowness remained a separate

until 1974. Windermere UDC had slight boundary changes in 1934 and was abolished by the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

replacing it with South Lakeland District Council. On 29 July 2020 the merged parish was renamed from "Windermere" to " Windermere and Bowness". In 2023 South Lakeland was abolished and merged into

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

area.

Transport

Windermere railway station was built in 1847 and was the reason the town was established. The station serves trains run by Northern to Oxenholme on the West Coast Main Line; some services continue on to . Stagecoach Cumbria operates bus routes to Keswick,

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

, Lancaster, Grasmere, Ambleside, Bowness-on-Windermere,

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

, Penrith and Coniston. The town is near the A591 road, a major road which runs through the Lake District from Kendal to Keswick.

Local media

Regional TV news is provided by BBC North West and

ITV Border ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, th ...

. Television signals are received from the local relay transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Cumbria 104.2 FM, Heart North West on 102.3 FM, Smooth Lake District on 100.8 FM, and Lake District Radio that broadcast online from its studios in

. The town's local newspapers are The Westmorland Gazette and North West Evening Mail.

Education

There are three primary schools located in the town. Secondary education is provided by The Lakes School (state) and Windermere School (independent, ages 2–18), both of which are located on the outskirts.

Notable people

* George Godfrey Cunningham (c. 1802–1860) – Scottish writer * Thomas Gardner (born 1996) – filmmaker."Award-winning film shot by Cumbrian man"
''CumbriaCrack''. 5 April 2022 * Dr David Clark, Baron Clark of Windermere, lives in Windermere.

References

External links

Windermere Town Council Cumbria County History Trust: Windermere and BownessThe Cumbria Directory - Windermere
{{Authority control Towns in Cumbria Former civil parishes in Cumbria Westmorland and Furness