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Northumbria University Mountaineering Club |
O U T A C |
Keswick Map |
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University of Northumbria Mountaineering Club - OUTAC |
Keswick |
The textbook blurb : Keswick, town
("parish"), Allerdale district, county of Cumbria, England. It lies
at the north end of the Derwentwater (lake), below the peak of Skiddaw. Keswick
is the main transportation focus, tourist resort, and shopping centre of
the northern part of Lake District National Park. Lead mining was formerly of
economic importance. The local museum contains relics of the rich geologic,
folk, and art associations of the region. Pop. 4,836 More textbook crap :
Lake District, famous scenic region and national park in the county of
Cumbria, England. The national park covers an area of 2,243 sq km. It contains
the principal English lakes, including Windermere (17 km long), and the highest
English mountains (Scafell Pike, 978 m). The famous lake-strewn valleys of the
region radiate from a core of central mountains, thus making through routes
difficult to establish but also contributing to the distinctive character that
makes the entire Lake District attractive to tourists. The geological
structure is basically a dome, with hard, pre-Carboniferous rocks forming most
of the principal summits, such as Scafell Pike, Scafell (3,162 ft), and
Helvellyn (3,118 ft). To the north softer Ordovician rocks give more rounded
hills (Skiddaw [3,054 ft] and Saddleback [2,847 ft]). In the south, lower hills
of Silurian slates and grits surround the lakes of Windermere, Esthwaite
Water, and Coniston Water. This structure has been influenced by glacial action
that deepened existing valleys, both scooping out the rock basins that now
contain the lakes and also creating (by truncating former tributary
valleys) a number of "hanging valleys" with attractive waterfalls.
The area was long isolated from the south and east by moorlands, peat bogs,
lakes, and forests. Two Roman roads were built across the region, and later
Norse invasions resulted in a period of forest clearance. The Cistercian abbeys
of Furness and Byland, exploiting the area for wool production, continued the
process of deforestation, which was accelerated by iron-ore smelting and, later,
by the extraction of lead and copper. These activities became uneconomic after
the 1870s, and labour was diverted into slate and building stone quarries. The
state Forestry Commission has covered large areas with conifers but has agreed
to leave the central fell (upland) area in its deforested state with
fragmentary deciduous woodland. The Lake District became a national park
in 1951, and the increased social mobility of the population of the industrial
regions of northern England has stimulated the tourist industry. Traditional
forms of extensive agriculture (cattle and sheep rearing) have been intensified
and include the production of milk and eggs. The increased demand for water by
industrial north west England has resulted in the use of Thirlmere Lake as
a reservoir, precluding its use for recreation. The Lake District was
the home of William Wordsworth, who was born at Cockermouth and is buried
beside his sister and his wife in Grasmere churchyard. Since the early 19th
century, the region has had many other well-known literary visitors and
residents
