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Birks (Lake District)

Fells of the Lake DistrictNuttallsPatterdale
Birks from Arnison Crag
Birks from Arnison Crag

Birks is a fell in the English Lake District situated two kilometres south west of the village of Patterdale in the Eastern Fells. The fells summit sits on a shoulder of the north east ridge of the higher and better known fell of St Sunday Crag, by which it is dominated, walkers often pass over the top of Birks either climbing or descending from the larger fell. The fell's name means a place where Birch trees predominate.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Birks (Lake District) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 54.52 ° E -2.956 °
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Address

Cold Cove


CA11 0PU
England, United Kingdom
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Birks from Arnison Crag
Birks from Arnison Crag
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Nearby Places

Patterdale
Patterdale

Patterdale (Saint Patrick's Dale) is a small village and civil parish in the eastern part of the English Lake District in Cumbria, in the traditional county of Westmorland, and the long valley in which they are found, also called the Ullswater Valley. The parish had a population of 460 in 2001, increasing to 501 at the 2011 Census. The poet William Wordsworth lived in youth near Patterdale and his autobiographical poem The Prelude narrates in Book 1 such childhood activities as fishing in the lake from a stolen boat. The village is now the start point for a number of popular hill-walks, most notably the Striding Edge path up to Helvellyn. Other fells that can be reached from the valley include Place Fell, High Street, Glenridding Dodd, most of the peaks in the Helvellyn range, Fairfield and St Sunday Crag, and Red Screes and Stony Cove Pike at the very end of the valley, standing either side of the Kirkstone Pass which is the road to Ambleside. Further up the valley to the north is the lake of Ullswater with Gowbarrow Fell and Hallin Fell overlooking it. The only tarn in the valley is Brothers Water, one of the first places in the Lakes to be acquired by the National Trust. The only other village in the valley is Glenridding. Patterdale village has a youth hostel, a church, a primary school and a hotel. In summer it can get quite busy, but not so much as Glenridding. Patterdale is considered to be a walkers' valley, and in fact Alfred Wainwright stated that it was his favourite valley in the Lake District as it is relatively undisturbed by tourism. Alongside Glenridding, Patterdale was also badly affected by Storm Desmond in December 2015.

Brothers Water
Brothers Water

Brothers Water is a small lake in the Hartsop valley, in the eastern region of the Lake District in England. Once called Broad Water, it lies at the northern end of Kirkstone Pass, affording views on the descent towards Patterdale. The name was changed in the 19th century after two brothers drowned there. Dorothy Wordsworth, having left William Wordsworth sitting on Cow Bridge, walked beside the lake on 16 April 1802, commented on: ...the boughs of the bare old trees, the simplicity of the mountains, and the exquisite beauty of the path...the gentle flowing of the stream, the glittering, lively lake, green fields without a living creature to be seen on them. The lake is not among the most popular in the national park, being shallow and full of reeds. Water lilies bloom in July, providing colour. To the north-east of Brothers Water is the village of Hartsop, which has several 17th-century stone farm buildings and cottages. Some of the buildings still contain spinning-rooms where villagers would have made their own clothing, selling any surplus in the local market towns. The word Hartsop means "valley of the deer", which would have lived in the woodlands of the lower areas of the surrounding fells. A walk through woodland skirts the western shore. From its northern end the walk leads to Patterdale. Southward it heads over Kirkstone Pass to Ambleside. On the western side of Brothers Water is Hartsop Hall. The 16th-century building passed to Sir John Lowther in the 17th century and is now owned by the National Trust. The village of Hartsop lies near the northeast corner of the lake. Brothers Water may be classified in either of two ways: as one of the Lake District's smallest lakes or one of its largest tarns. The lake is home to a trout population and harbours a rare species of fish, the schelly.