Tuesday 10th August 1819
Tuesday August 10th We left Penrith early & breakfasted at Pooley Bridge where we found a boat for rowing down Ulswater the beautiful scenery emerged as we proceeded; this lake is nine miles long & appears divided into three separate lakes each decidedly different in scenery the south end is awfully grand we dined at the comfortable Inn at Patterdale & returned by the lake to Pooley Bridge where we proceeded
to Keswick in the carriage.
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Ullswater is the second largest lake in the Lake District. Wordsworth was inspired to write his famous poem Daffodils after seeing daffodils growing on the shores of Ullswater on his journey back to Grasmere. Wordsworth once wrote of "Ullswater, as being, perhaps, upon the whole, the happiest combination of beauty and grandeur, which any of the Lakes affords”
Lucy has inscribed the facing page of this sketch North End of Ullswater Augt 16 1819, Cumberland. As elsewhere in her sketchbook she has written up the caption in ink, rubbing out the pencilled date. She has probably misread the pencilled “0” as a clearly inscribed “6”. This view is impressive …. but she records that the South end is awfully grand
It is a typical Lake District narrow "ribbon lake" formed after the last ice age when a glacier scooped out the valley floor and when the glacier retreated, the deepened section filled with meltwater which became a lake. A total of three separate glaciers formed the lake. The surrounding mountains give Ullswater the shape of a stretched 'Z' with three distinct segments (or 'reaches') that wind their way through the surrounding hills, as Lucy noted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ullswater
Ullswater is a great lake for sailing and has a regular ferry service operated by Ullswater Steamers (see picture above) .There is a fabulous YouTube video showing aerial drone footage of the Ullswater Way hosted by Friends of the Ullswater Way (http://www.ullswaterway.co.uk) by Charlie Watson of the Pooley Bridge Post Office. For more information on the Ullswater Way please visit their website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=S6uspmkUbcU
Comfortable Inn at Petterdale: The White Lion website tells us that: “Visitors and local people have enjoyed the hospitality of the White lion since the early 1800's. Many a tale could be told of events that have taken place in all its lifetime, including the time when Wordsworth was in our very bar as news arrived that Nelson had died at Trafalgar”. http://www.coast2coast.co.uk/thewhitelioninn/ The image below is from their website. Since Wordsworth was there in 1805, it is highly likely that this was the Inn at which Lacy and her family dined and found comfortable.
Patterdale (Saint Patrick's Dale) is considered to be a walkers' valley, and Alfred Wainwright stated that it was his favourite valley in the Lake District as it is relatively undisturbed by tourism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patterdale
Can you help us?
Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.
New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?