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.

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Hartsop

Hartsop is a small village in the English Lake District. It lies in the Patterdale valley, near Brothers Water, Hayeswater and Kirkstone Pass. It consists of 17th-century grey stone cottages, like so many of its neighbours. Hartsop retains its historic image, in that, in common with a number of other small Cumbrian villages, it had houses with spinning galleries. It was also a lead mining community. Hartsop Hall, in the care of the National Trust, is located on the far side of the valley from the village. The hall dates from the 16th century, formerly the home of the de Lancasters; in the 17th century it passed into the ownership of Sir John Lowther, a member of the family that later became Earls of Lonsdale. After that, it became used as an ordinary farmhouse. Local history relates that when the hall was extended in the 18th century, it was built across an ancient right-of-way, a right which at least one dalesman insisted on exercising, by walking through the hall. Hayeswater, an upland lake a mile east above the village, serves as a reservoir for the town of Penrith about 12 miles away. Hartsop is a popular starting point for hill walkers climbing on the High Street range and the Helvellyn range. The village is overlooked by Brock Crags and Hartsop Dodd. Hartsop is part of the civil parish of Patterdale.

Hartsop Dodd

Hartsop Dodd is a fell in the English Lake District, standing to the south east of Brothers Water. It is a subsidiary top on the north ridge of Caudale Moor, but was given separate fell status by Wainwright in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. That convention is followed here.

Brock Crags

Brock Crags is a fell in the English Lake District, standing above Hartsop in the Far Eastern Fells. It forms part of the perimeter of Martindale, lying on the long ridge from Rampsgill Head to Place Fell.

Hartsop above How

Hartsop above How is a fell in the English Lake District, an outlier of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells. It stands above Brothers Water and the Ullswater–Ambleside road.