Thirlmere
Thirlmere is a relatively new lake, formed at the end of the 19th century by merging two smaller lakes. Sadly, part of the hamlet of Wythburn (including an inn frequented by
William Wordsworth) was submerged by the damming process.
However, the creation of the reservoir was necessary in order to supply the booming population and industry of Manchester with water - an ingenious series of gravity-drawn channels and pipes carries the water over 100 miles from Thirlmere to Manchester.
Today Thirlmere is a pretty lake, with wooded shores and the great heights of Helvellyn towering over it to the east.
"O Thirlmere! - let me some how or other celebrate the world in thy mirror"
Samuel Coleridge, 1803