Ennerdale Water
Encyclopedia
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
National Park
National parks of England and Wales
The national parks of England and Wales are areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape that are designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949...
in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is a glacial lake
Glacial lake
A glacial lake is a lake with origins in a melted glacier. Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,000 years ago, glaciers began to retreat. A retreating glacier often left behind large deposits of ice in hollows between drumlins or hills. As the ice age ended, these melted to create...
, with a maximum depth of 45 metres (150 ft), and at 700 to 1,500 metres (1/2 mile to a mile) wide and 3.9 kilometres (2½ miles) is one of the smallest lakes in the area. The small village of Ennerdale Bridge
Ennerdale Bridge
Ennerdale Bridge is a settlement in the county of Cumbria, England.Ennerdale Bridge lies at the confluence of Croasdale Beck and the River Ehen and is on the border of the Lake District National Park that uses both watercourses as its boundary. The nearest town is Cleator Moor to its west...
lies to the west of the lake.Two pubs and a few houses, it is a typical small Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
n village. It is close to the port of Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
, the town of Cleator Moor
Cleator Moor
Cleator Moor is a small town and civil parish in the English county of Cumbria and within the boundaries of the traditional county of Cumberland....
and the village of Cleator
Cleator
Cleator is a village in the English county of Cumbria and within the boundaries of the traditional county of Cumberland.Cleator is 1½ miles south of the town of Cleator Moor on the A5086 road. Cleator was the original village, Cleator Moor being the moor above the village. It is the site of the...
. The lake, owned by United Utilities
United Utilities
United Utilities Group PLC is the UK's largest listed water business. The Group owns and manages the regulated water and waste water network in the north west England, through it subsidiary United Utilities Water PLC , which is responsible for the vast majority of the group's assets and...
, is both a reservoir serving over 30,000 customers daily and a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
due to its lake-shore habitats.
Due to the Ennerdale valley's remote location, the lack of a public road up the valley and its management by the Forestry Commission
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....
, the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
and United Utilities
United Utilities
United Utilities Group PLC is the UK's largest listed water business. The Group owns and manages the regulated water and waste water network in the north west England, through it subsidiary United Utilities Water PLC , which is responsible for the vast majority of the group's assets and...
, Ennerdale Water is not as much visited by hikers, tourists and cyclists as other lakes in the National Park
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
, and thus has not been spoiled by construction, activity on the lake or the trappings of intensive tourism.
Geography
The lake lies in the eponymous valley of Ennerdale, surrounded some of the highest and best-known fells in Cumbria including; Great GableGreat Gable
Great Gable is a mountain lying at the very heart of the English Lake District, appearing as a pyramid from Wasdale , but as a dome from most other directions. It is one of the most popular of the Lakeland fells, and there are many different routes to the summit...
(899 m), Green Gable
Green Gable
Green Gable is a fell in the English Lake District often traversed by walkers on route to its more famous neighbour Great Gable. It can be ascended from Honister Pass, Seathwaite in Borrowdale, or Ennerdale...
, Brandreth
Brandreth
Brandreth is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands between Great Gable and Haystacks in the Western Fells.-Topography:The Western Fells occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and Wasdale to the south east. Westwards the hills...
, High Crag
High Crag
High Crag stands at the southern end of the High Stile ridge which divides the valleys of Ennerdale and Buttermere in the west of the English Lake District. It is often climbed as part of a popular ridge walk, from Black Sail youth hostel, or from Buttermere via Scarth Gap...
, Steeple and Pillar. The level of the lake has been artificially raised by construction of a weir to enable it to be used as a reservoir for Whitehaven. Ennerdale Water is fed by the River Liza
River Liza
The River Liza is a river in the Cumbrian Lake District in England.The Liza flows from its source below Windy Gap on Great Gable through a steep-sided valley to Ennerdale Water....
and other streams, and in turn feeds the River Ehen
River Ehen
The River Ehen is a river in Cumbria, England. It is a designated Special Area of Conservation.The river's source is at the west end of Ennerdale Water: it runs west through Ennerdale Bridge where it is joined by Croasdale Beck...
which runs to the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
.
Etymology
The valley 'Ennerdale' is named after the River Ehen (Ehen + dale) which is the valley's main outflow. The lake has been referred to in guidebooks and maps variously as "Brodewater" (1576), "Brodwater" (1695), "Broad Water" (1760), "Ennerdale Water" (1784) and "Ennerdale Lake" in Otley's Guide of (1823). It is now the Ordnance SurveyOrdnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
convention to name it "Ennerdale Water".
Notable facts
Though the Lake District is a popular UKUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
location for film shoots, Ennerdale has been left relatively in the shadow, with only a few brief exceptions. The closing sequences of the movie 28 Days Later
28 Days Later
28 Days Later is an acclaimed 2002 British horror film directed by Danny Boyle. The screenplay was written by Alex Garland, and the film stars Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, and Christopher Eccleston...
(2002), directed by Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
, were filmed around the Ennerdale area, and include a sweeping, panoramic view of the lake.
In 1810 a large carnivore killed hundreds of sheep in and around Ennerdale before it was hunted down and killed. The locals dubbed it the Girt (dialect: "great") Dog of Ennerdale
Girt dog of Ennerdale
The Girt Dog of Ennerdale is the name given to a mysterious creature that cut a bloody swathe through the Cumberland, England fells in 1810. Over the course of six months, the creature killed between 300 and 400 sheep....
, though it was said to have had the traits of both a dog and a large cat.
Once a year, during the last week in August, the Ennerdale Show brings local people together with agricultural displays, competitions, arts and crafts.
Former US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
proposed to his wife Hillary
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
on the banks of Ennerdale Water in 1973.
In 2003 the valley's three major landowners formed the Wild Ennerdale Partnership with a vision "to allow the evolution of Ennerdale as a wild valley for the benefit of people, relying more on natural processes to shape its landscape and ecology".