174 F^tom ©Totttston 



post, which indicates the two ways to the two sides of the 

 lake, he will find his car ; and he then proceeds through a wild 

 country — moorland, sprinkled with grey rock, — in the 

 direction of Hawkshead, which is three miles and a-half 

 from Waterhead. 



The group of houses which is passed before descending a 

 steep hill to Hawkshead goes by the name of ^BiainksfjcatJ 

 ^j^ilL One of these houses, hardly seen from the road, is 

 the Baptist Chapel, believed to be one of the oldest dissent- 

 ing places of worship in the kingdom. At the bottom of the 

 hill the tourist passes an old farmhouse on the left. The mul- 

 lioned window which now belongs to its barn formerly lighted 

 an apartment where the Abbots of Furness held their courts ; 

 and in this house a few of the monks from the Abbey lived, 

 in order to perform spiritual rites for the people of this dis- 

 trict. 



At this house the road takes a turn to the right ; and the 

 traveller soon finds himself in ^]l6>;aiiifeljeati» The parish 

 church is ancient, and its appearance venerable, standing 

 as a church should do, in full view of the country round, — 

 that is of the valley in which Esthwaite Water lies. Elizabeth 

 Smith lies buried here ; and there is a tablet to her memory 

 in the churchyard. At the ancient Grammar School of 

 Hawkshead, Wordsworth and his brother were educated. 

 In the school library there are some interesting books, 

 amongst others the family bible of Archbishop Sandys, the 

 founder of the School. Passing through the quaint little town, 

 the road turns to the left to reach the northern end of Es- 

 thwaite Water, which is two miles long, and half a mile broad. 

 This is a quiet sheet of water, with two promontories 

 stretching into it, which look like islands, nearly dividing 

 it into a chain of ponds (p. 42). 



Those who do not care to go over the lake to Bowness 



