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Lake District

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The Lake District National Park is one of thirteen National parks in the United Kingdom. It lies in the county of Cumbria. The park is one of England's few mountainous regions. All the land in England higher than three thousand feet above sea level lies within the Park. The Lakes, as they are called, were made famous during Victorian era in the poetry and writings of William Wordsworth. This whole land of snow-clad fells presents wonderful and mystic scenes for painters and photographers and many can be found there rambling.


Geography

The highest point in England is the peak of Scafell Pike. The Ordnance Survey gives the height as 3205 feet (978 m).

Alfred Wainwright gave a list of 214 fells in his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lake District, which walkers still use today. Of these, Wainwright gives four of these a height of over 3000 ft ; Scafell Pike (3210 ft, 980 m), Scafell (3162 ft, 965 m), Helvellyn (3118 ft, 951 m) and Skiddaw (3053 ft, 932 m).

Despite its name, there is only one body of water in the park with the word Lake in the name, Bassenthwaite Lake. All the others such as Windermere, Coniston Water, Ullswater and Buttermere use other forms, with 'mere' being particularly common. Many of the most picturesque names date to the Viking invasion, especially fell, the natural English word in the North for mountain.

Amongst the area's many attractive towns are Grasmere (once home to William Wordsworth), Ambleside and Windermere.


Climate

The Lake District's location in the north west of England, coupled with its mountainous geography, makes it the wettest part of England. The UK Met Office reports average annual precipitation of more than 2,000 mm.

Mean temperature in the valleys ranges from about 3 °C in January to around 15 °C in July. The relatively low height of most of the fells means that while snow is expected during the winter, they can be free of snow at any time of the year. Normally significant snow fall only occurs between November and April.

Hill fog is common at any time of year, and the Lake District averages only around 2.5 hours of sunshine per day.


Industry and Agriculture

Historically, farming, in particular of sheep, was the major industry in the region. The breed most closely associated with the area is the tough Herdwick. However the area was badly affected by the foot-and-mouth outbreak across the United Kingdom in 2001. Thousands of sheep, ordinarily grazing on the fellsides in the North of the Park were destroyed.

In Neolithic times, the Lake District was a major source of stone axes, examples of which have been found all over Britain. The primary site, on the slopes of the Langdale Pikes, is sometimes described as a 'stone axe factory' of the Langdale axe industry. Some of the earliest stone circles in Britain are connected with this industry.

Mining, particularly of copper, lead, silver, graphite and slate, was historically a major lakeland industry, mainly from the 16th century to the 19th century. Some mining still takes place today - for example slate mining continues at the Honister Mines, at the top of Honister Pass. Abandoned mine-workings can be found on fell-sides throughout the district.

The locally-mined graphite led to the development of the pencil industry, especially around Keswick.

In the middle of the 19th century, half the world textile industry's bobbin supply came from the Lake District area.

Over the past century, tourism has grown rapidly to become the area's primary source of income.

Major fells

More fells can be found on the list of fells in the Lake District and in the list of Wainwrights.

25 highest fells

Major lakes

More lakes, tarns and reservoirs can be found on the list of lakes in the Lake District.


See also


Photographs of the area

  • Guide to the Lake District from Navito UK - Introduction to the Lake District plus searchable database for locating Lake District pubs, hotels and other businesses and a book shop for maps and books about the Lake District.


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