WESTMORELAND. 



fine lakes. Among thefe, Windermere, or Winandermere, 

 and UUs-water, merit particular attention for lize, and for 

 the pidtiirefque beauty of the fcenery which fiin-ounds 

 them. They may be, and are by competent judges, re- 

 garded as unequalled in the kingdom. 



Winandermere is a large lake of about ten miles and a 

 half in length, by a breadtk of from one to two miles ; in- 

 cluding an area, or ftieet of water, of nearly 45 34 acres. Its 

 depth is in one place 23 fathoms, in a fecond 29, and m a 

 third 3 1 fathoms. Four mountain ftreams, or rivers, fup- 

 ply this lake, and it is fingular that its waters fcarcely ever 

 appear to be augmented or decreafed. " Even in the 

 moft violent rains, when the country is drenched in water, 

 when every rill is fwelled into a river, and the mountains 

 pour down floods through new channels, the lake maintains 

 the fame equal temper ; and though it may fpread a. few 

 yards over its lower Ihores, (which is the utmoft it does,) 

 yet its increafe is feldom the objeft of obfervation ; nor does 

 the feverity of the greateft drought make any confiderable 

 alteration in its bounds." In this lake are thirteen iflands, 

 the largeft of which is now called Curwen's ifland. It 

 contains about 27 acres of land, which are laid out in 

 pleafure-gardens, walks, &c. around a very handfome man- 

 lion belonging to Mr. Curwen. 



Ulls-water, part of which is known by the name of Oufe- 

 mere, is a large and long lake, fituated at the north-weftern 

 extremity of the county, and partly in Cumberland. Next 

 to Windermere, it is the largeft Iheet of water in this part of 

 England. It covers an area of about nine miles in length 

 from N.E. to S.W. by two in the broadeft part, though 

 the general width rarely exceeds a mile. Its fides are very 

 irriguous, and from its (hores the mountains rife in various 

 bold, pifturefque, and romantic forms ; occafionally ftarting 

 abruptly from the lake, and in other places afcending by 

 gradual flopes. Towards the fouth-weftern end the moun- 

 tains are on the grandeft fcale. On the northern and weftern 

 fides the fcenery is moftly rocky and woody. In fome 

 places its waters are from 29 to 35 fathoms deep. It 

 abounds with trout, perch, llcellies, and eels ; alfo fome 

 char, and a large fpecies of trout, fome of which have been 

 caught of ten pounds weight. In its higheft part are a 

 few fmall rocky iflands. 



Haws-water, in beauty and extent, ranks next. This 

 lake is fituated between Shap and Ulls-water, in a moun- 

 tainous diftrift ; it is about three miles in length, and in 

 breadth from a quarter to half a mile. The hills on the 

 eaft fide are high and rocky, and partially covered with 

 wood. Thofe on the weft are alfo high, but have a por- 

 tion of low cultivated ground along the margin, which is 

 divided into fmall farms. The narroweft part of this lake 

 is faid to be fifty fathoms deep. 



Grafmere lake is a fmall but beautiful flieet of water, 

 about a mile in length, and nearly half a mile broad, having 

 its margin indented with numerous fmall bays with lofty 

 and rocky eminences. Its fituation is a few miles north of 

 Amblefide. Near its centre is a fmall green ifland. The 

 poet Gray defcribes this lake and its fcenery in terms of 

 high panegyric. " After pafling the romantic mountain of 

 Helm-Crag," he fays, "opens one of the fweetcft landfcapes 

 that art ever attempted to imitate. The bofom of the 

 mountains here, fpreading into a broad bafon, difcovers in 

 the midft Grafmere-water ; its margin is hollowed into 

 fmall bays with bold eminences, fome of rock, fome of turf, 

 that half conceal and vary the figure of the little lake they 

 command. From the fhore a low promontory puflies it- 

 felf far into the water, and on it ftands a white village, with 

 the parilh-church rifing in the midft of it." 



. South of this, in the fame vale, is Rydal-water, a fmall 

 lake nearly a mile in length, and interfperfed with wooded 

 iflands. Its water is (hallow, and abounds with reeds. 



On an elevated fituation, nearly two miles weft from 

 Amblefide, is a fmall lake called Elter-water. 



Broad-water is a fmall lake half a mile long, and a 

 quarter of a mile broad, fituated a few miles above Ulls- 

 water. 



Kentmere-tarn, a piece of water upwards of a mile 

 long, and nearly half a mile broad, is fituated in Kentmere- 

 dale. 



Skeggles-water, a very fmall lake, three miles north- 

 eaft of Kentmere-tarn, is embofomed in the mountains of 

 Longfleddale. 



Sumbiggin-tam, and Whin-fell-tarn, are fmall pieces 

 of water ; the former four or five miles eaft from Orton, 

 well fupplied with eels and a red trout, refembling char ; 

 and the latter about five miles north-eaft from Kendal. 



The ybiV of Weftmoreland is moftly dry and gravelly ; but 

 in the eaft and north, fand and hazel-mould are found. Clay 

 prevails on a few farms towards the Eden and the eaftern 

 hills ; and a moift foil appears in fome northern diftrifts. 

 Peat-mofs abounds on the tops of fome higii mountains, 

 confifting of a dry foil upon a hard blue rock, provincially 

 called rag. The foil that lies upon a ftratum of lime-ftone 

 is efteemed the moft profitable. 



The Roads in Weftmoreland, from the rocky nature of 

 the country, are very firm and good. They are generally 

 formed to wind gradually round the fides of the hills and 

 along the vales, in fuch a manner, that the declivities of the 

 former are moftly avoided. The principal roads leading 

 through this county are thofe from Scotland and Cumber- 

 land to London, and the fouthern parts of England. Thefe 

 roads are united through Cumberland, but divide near Pen- 

 rith, on the confines of Weftmoreland : one turns eaft wards, 

 over Stainmoore, and through the centre of Yorkfhire, to 

 London, &c. ; the other proceeds direftly fouth, through 

 Kendal, Lancafter, &c. to Manchefter, Liverpool, Wales, 

 the weftern counties of England, and alfo to London. A 

 branch from this road goes through Kirkby-Lonfdale to 

 the manufafturing towns in the Weft Riding of Yorkfliire, 

 and other fouthern diftrifts. 



Before the rebellion of 1715, the public roads of this 

 county were almoft impaflable ; but in that year the govern- 

 ment planned feveral new roads : very little, however, was 

 done to them before the more ferious infurreftion of 1745. 

 This event impelled the government to direft fome effeftual 

 repairs to be made. In 1 774 an aft of parliament was ob- 

 tained to make a turnpike-road from Bowes to Brough. In 

 this year, the firft ilage-coach from London to Glafgow 

 was eftabhftied to run this road. A mail began to travel 

 through Kendal, &c. from London in 1786. Since which 

 time the great roads have been kept in very good repair. 



With the exception of fome trifling veins of lead ore, few 

 minerals have been found in the eaftern part of this county. 

 Coal is obtained only in the fouth-eaftern extremity of 

 Weftmoreland, except an inferior quality called crow-coal, 

 procured in the neighbourhood of Shap. 



The county affords various forts of valuable ftone ; par- 

 ticularly linie-ftone, marble, gypfum, blue flate, and free- 

 ftone. There is great abundance of lime-ftone, except 

 among the weftern hills. 



Marble of a beautiful kind was difcovered a few years 

 ago on the banks of the river Kent, near Kendal, and has 

 been worked with fuccefs. The fame vein has alfo been 

 found on the oppofite fide of the river. 



Blue flate of various forts is dug from the rocky hills on 



the 



