In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Bassenthwaite like this:
BASSENTHWAITE, a village, a parish, and a lake in Cockermouth district, Cumberland. The village stands on the E side of the lake, opposite Bassenthwaite L. r. station, 5 miles NNW of Keswick; and has a post office under Windermere. The parish is divided into two constablewicks, High-side around the village and Low-side or Hawes. ...
Acres, 6,930. Real property, £4,568. Pop., 570. Houses, 120. The property is much subdivided. The surface is highly diversified and picturesque, ranging from the summit of Skiddaw to the meadows on the lake. Lead ore has been found; and a mine of antimony worked. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £150. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle. The church is old but good; and there are charities £14 and some land.-The lake is in the basin of the Derwent river; commences 3 miles NW of the foot of Derwent water; extends 4½. miles north-north westward, with a mean breadth of ¾ of a mile; and has a surface elevation of 210 feet above the level of the sea. Its bosom is not gemmed with any island; its head is flat and open, but looks away to the mountains round Derwent water; its W side is flanked by a range of wooded fells, mostly rising from the water's edge; its foot is screened by vale and slope, going up at 3 miles distance to Binsey hill; and its E side is flanked by the grand skirts and shoulders of Skiddaw, crowned, at 2½ miles' distance, by that mountain's summit. Pike and perch abound in the lake; and salmon pass through it to the Upper Derwent.
Bassenthwaite through time
Bassenthwaite is now part of Allerdale district. Click here for graphs and data of how Allerdale has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Bassenthwaite itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Bassenthwaite, in Allerdale and Cumberland | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/2984
Date accessed: 19th April 2024
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