This is one of the narrow streets in the charming village of Hawkshead, which lies between Windermere and Coniston Water in the Lake District.
It is a tourist magnet, and apart from several high quality retailers it features Wordsworth's old grammar school, a beautiful church, a number of hotels and several lovely old inns and teashops.
Hawkshead grew to be an important wool market in medieval times and later as a market town after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1532. It was granted its first market charter by King James I in 1608. In 1585, Hawkshead Grammar School was established by Archbishop Edwin Sandys of York after he successfully petitioned Queen Elizabeth I for a charter to establish a governing body.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hawkshead became a village of important local stature. The poet William Wordsworth was educated at Hawkshead Grammar School, whilst Beatrix Potter lived nearby, marrying William Heelis, a local solicitor, in the early 20th century.
Tags: Cumbria The Lake District Hawkshead villages narrow streets street views
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We recently visited the western part of the Lake District National Park, and while we were in the area we decided to have a look at Whitehaven, which is one of the few English towns I hadn't previously been to. The old Georgian centre around the harbour is really very attractive, and the harbour itself with the old and the new standing side by side is rather like Plymouth in miniature.
The town's growth and prosperity was based on the local coal industry and the export of coal through the harbour from the 17th century onwards. It was also a major port for trading with the American colonies, and was, after London, the second busiest port of England by tonnage from 1750 to 1772. While the coal industry has declined the nearby Sellafield nuclear complex is the largest local employer and has a significant administrative base in the town.
For more details please see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehaven and www.visitlakedistrict.com/explore/areas-of-cumbria/whiteh....
Tags: Cumbria Whitehaven towns harbours marinas yachts
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Cartmel is a very pretty little village in south Cumbria, just to the north of Morecambe Bay. We hadn't been there before but were so impressed we went back a couple of days later. There was once an important priory here, but after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536 when the vast majority were ruined and their lands taken by King Henry VIII the Grade II*-listed Gatehouse is the only secular building of Cartmel Priory to remain. it was used as a school from 1624 to 1790 and is now the property of the National Trust.
Source: britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101348693-priory-gatehouse-i....
Tags: Cumbria Cartmel Cartmel Priory Gatehouse National Trust Grade II*-listed buildings medieval buildings
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Clouds cover the fell-tops behind as the small town of Coniston temporarily basks in the sunshine. Coniston is on the western shore of the northern end of Coniston Water. It sits at the mouth of Coppermines Valley and Yewdale Beck, which descend from the Coniston Fells, historically the location of copper and slate mining. Coniston developed as a farming village and transport hub, serving these areas. Originally this was in the very north-west of the historic county of Lancashire, with the Old Man of Coniston (covered by clouds) forming the county's highest point. Coniston is now part of Cumbria’s Lake District National Park.
Tags: Cumbria Lake District Coniston Water Coniston English towns fells clouds Old Man of Coniston
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According to Simon Jenkins, who considers St Mary's Church in Kirkby Lonsdale to to be among the thousand best churches in England, "the three bays of the north arcade are among the most exciting survivals in any church of the early Norman period." He thinks it likely that a grander church was planned but abandoned and resumed on a more modest scale. The church is Grade I-listed.
Tags: Cumbria Kirkby Lonsdale Grade I-listed churches medieval buildings St Mary's Church church interiors Church of St Mary, Kirkby Lonsdale Norman architecture
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