Current location:health >>
The perfect introduction to Wainwright's Lake District world
health3People have gathered around
IntroductionAlfred Wainwright once compared Coniston in the southern Lake District with Zermatt way up in the Sw ...
Alfred Wainwright once compared Coniston in the southern Lake District with Zermatt way up in the Swiss Alps — saying each seemed to have a particularly strong affinity with their nearest mountains.
OK, the Old Man Of Coniston may rise to a mere 2,635ft, while the Matterhorn by Zermatt soars to a loftier 14,692ft, yet there is an element of truth to the great hiking scribe's fanciful comparison.
The village of Coniston, population 928, somehow feels as though it belongs to its mountain.
This close connection has a long history, with industry providing the glue.
For many years, copper and slate have been mined on the eastern slopes of the Old Man, dating from the days of Elizabeth I, when the first copper mines were established, with German miners shipped in.
Benevolent giant: Tom Chesshyre travels to the village of Coniston in the Lake District. Above, the Old Man of Coniston and Coniston Water
Tom stayed in a 'mountain cottage' (pictured) in Coppermines Valley, which sits above Coniston village
These Germans turned out to be more than just dab hands at working the copper seams. They are also believed to have introduced the recipes for local sausages that were eventually to become known as Cumberlands.
Whatever the truth of this, copper mining began in the 1560s and continued till the 1950s.
Slate is still quarried and it’s possible to buy lovely silvery-green slabs at Coniston Stonecraft, a workshop on the path up to the Old Man behind the Sun Hotel.
This tucked-away business is in old railway depot buildings for copper ore and slate; tracks used to wind up from Broughton-in-Furness.
Meanwhile, the Sun Hotel was where Donald Campbell is understood to have stayed the night before his fatal crash at nearly 300mph in Bluebird K7 during his attempt to break the world water speed record on Coniston Water in 1967.
Alfred Wainwright once compared Coniston (pictured) with Zermatt in the Swiss Alps, reveals Tom
The Old Man of Coniston has seen copper and slate mining activity since the days of Elizabeth I. Above, an abandoned slate mine on the mountain
LEFT: A 'mountain cottage' hot tub. RIGHT: Tom felt 'safe and sound' in his rental in Coppermines Valley
You can learn all about this at the Ruskin Museum, just off the high street, close to the gurgling water of Church Beck and a busy clutch of hostelries that mark the village centre at a crossroads by a bridge.
There’s a mangled piece of the ill-fated vessel at the back in a special Donald Campbell section.
The museum’s name comes from another historical ghost: John Ruskin, the social reformer and essayist (1819-1900), who had so loved the local scenery that he bought a mansion on the far bank of Coniston Water.
This building, called Brantwood (about a 45-minute walk along the lake from the village), is open to the public and offers an intriguing insight into Ruskin’s somewhat peculiar life.
Tom said the holiday cottage and its roaring fire 'felt a long way from anywhere in Britain’s "Swiss Alps"'. Pictured: The living room in one of the cottages
During his trip, Tom visits the Ruskin Museum - a 'rich source of local history'
Tom is the author of Lost In The Lakes: Notes From A 379-Mile Hike Around The Lake District
The Ruskin Museum is a rich source of local history. The root of the name Coniston goes way back to the Old Norse Konigs Tun (king’s settlement), referring to a Viking king named Thorstein.
Displays also capture the early days of mountaineering and the Fell & Rock Climbing Club, founded in 1906 and based in Coniston.
It would be churlish, if fit and the weather’s good, not to climb the Old Man. This I did, enjoying sweeping views across sparkling tarns to the Irish Sea and south to Morecambe Bay.
Then I descended to the village and went for a pint of Bluebird ale at the quaint Black Bull pub.
I was in good historical company. The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge recorded that he had ‘dined on oatcake and cheese, with a pint of ale, and two glasses of rum and water sweetened with preserved gooseberries’ at the nearby Blacksmiths Arms, Broughton Mills, on his own hiking jaunt round the Lakes in 1802.
Back at my holiday cottage in Coppermines Valley, the fire roaring, it felt a long way from anywhere in Britain’s ‘Swiss Alps’, safe and sound with the ‘benevolent giant’ (Wainwright’s words) of the Old Man looming above.
TRAVEL FACTS
Three nights in a two-bed Coppermines cottage from £350 (coppermines.co.uk). More information: visitlakedistrict.com.
- Tom Chesshyre is author of Lost In The Lakes: Notes From A 379-Mile Hike Around The Lake District, published in paperback on February 7.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Worldly Wisdom news portal”。http://sierraleone.downmusic.org/html-33a599963.html
Related articles
Baby Reindeer knocked off Netflix's top spot by new 'must
healthBaby Reindeer has been dethroned for the number one spot on the Netflix most-watched list.The minise ...
【health】
Read moreGuideline unveiled to make public use of autonomous driving vehicles safer
health(China Daily) 08:13, December 07, 2023Baidu received the first license to test autonomous vehicles w ...
【health】
Read moreBrakes, rear
healthBy Chen Meiling (Chinadaily.com.cn) 14:13, December 15, 2023A preliminary investigation showed that ...
【health】
Read more
Popular articles
- Trump faces jail threat over gag order as prosecutors zero in on transactions at heart of the case
- New Year's Day holiday travel plans heating up
- Milan draws at Sassuolo to leave Inter likely to clinch Serie A title in next round's derby
- Procuratorate orders arrest of former vice president of China Development Bank
- José Ramírez breaks Larry Doby’s team record for go
- Xinjiang braces for more passenger train suspensions amid extreme weather
Latest articles
RuPaul's Drag Race Australia judge Rhys Nicholson lists unique Coburg townhouse for $850K
Cold wave continues to wreak havoc
National health response teams capable of covering all provincial regions of China
Werder Bremen accuses Naby Keita of walking out on the team for Leverkusen game
Julia Fox and Law Roach team up for a sustainable fashion competition show
National health response teams capable of covering all provincial regions of China
LINKS
- New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy suspends run for U.S. Senate
- Telling the story of Taiwan beyond the cross
- Chinese legislators endorse tighter control over Hong Kong, Australia concerned over move
- Hurricanes Poua won't be allowed to repeat haka criticising government
- Peru protests block access to Machu Picchu, stranding tourists
- Muslim organisation questions why hate speech law reforms abandoned
- Small bump in Covid vaccine uptake, but still well below 2021 peak
- Body removed after violent attack at Auckland sushi shop
- Farmers selling stock, land as 'extreme' drought dries up streams
- Body removed after violent attack at Auckland sushi shop