46 ;®ri&e from "y^^mberntere* 



cently erected. We soon arrive at ^nmt^y with its few 

 houses and saw mill and hoop manufactory. Further on is 

 the bridge over Cunsey Beck which flows from Esthwaite 

 Water into Winandermere. The pedestrian will not fail to 

 observe how luxuriantly the ferns grow here, especially at 

 the side of the stream. 



The roads for some little distance are formed of clay and 

 cinders from a furnace which formerly existed on the site 

 of a neighbouring bobbin-mill. Vast quantities of iron ore 

 were conveyed hither, where the extensive woods afforded a 

 ready supply of charcoal. The road just in advance of 

 the bridge is still called ' Ore Gates , ' — leading from the 

 the furnace to the forge, which was placed a few hundred 

 yards up the stream, and where a forge hammer was found, 

 weighing 350 pounds. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the 

 woods of High Furness were so much reduced by the char- 

 coal burning for the blomaries, that many of them were 

 suppressed at the common request of the tenants of Hawks- 

 head and Colton, who used the tops and croppings of these 

 woods to sustain their cattle in hard seasons, the tenants 

 charging themselves with the annual payment of ;£'2o an- 

 nually to the Queen for ever. This was called the blom- 

 smith rent. These far-stretching woods are cut down every 

 fifteen years, supplying material for the manufacture of hoops, 

 (many for the West Indies) bobbins for our cotton manufac- 

 tories, charcoal, and a kind of strong and flat basket, used 

 in coal mines. Some large landholders contrive to have a 

 fall every year of several hundred pounds' value. These 

 woods are said to yield a return nearly equal to the same ex- 

 tent of well-cultivated land. 



Passing in succession Cunsey Farm, Holme Well, and 

 Hammer Hall, we ascend the hill called Bassicks Brow to 

 Cat's Crag, whence a noble view of Winandermere is ob- 



