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Windermere is the largest natural lake in England. It has been one of the country’s most popular places for holidays and summer homes since 1847, when the Kendal and Windermere Railway built a branch line to it. It is in the county of Cumbria and entirely within the Lake District National Park.

The word "Windermere" translates as "Vinandr's lake", from the Old Norse name Vinandr and Old English mere, meaning lake.^[1] It was known as "Winander Mere" or "Winandermere" until at least the nineteenth century.^[2][3]

Its official name is Windermere, not Lake Windermere. (The only body of water in the National Park with "Lake" in its name is Bassenthwaite Lake.)

Windermere is 10.5 miles (16.9 km) long stretching from Newby Bridge To Ambleside and varies from a quarter of a mile (400m) to one mile (1.6 km) wide at Millerground. The lake covers an area of 14.7 square kilometres (5.7 sq mi). It reaches a depth of about 220 feet (67 m) near its northern end and has an elevation above sea level of 130 feet (40 m). The lake is drained from its southernmost point by the River Leven. It is replenished by the rivers Brathay, Rothay, Trout Beck, Cunsey Beck and several other lesser streams.

There are two towns on the lake, Ambleside and Bowness-on-Windermere. The town of Windermere, confusingly, does not directly touch the lake. Known as Birthwaite prior to the arrival of the railway, it is about a fifteen-minute walk from the lakefront, and has now grown together with Bowness. Windermere railway station is a hub for train and bus connections to the surrounding areas, Manchester, Manchester Airport, and the West Coast Main Line. The lake was originally known as Winandermere but the railway company thought this too long and called the station Windermere, which has since attached itself to both the town and the lake.^{[citation needed]}

The lake is largely surrounded by foothills of the Lake District which provide pleasant low-level walks; to the north and north-east are the higher fells of central Lakeland.

Windermere is one of a very few lakes in Britain which has a perceptible diurnal tide.^{[citation needed]}

Windermere is a ribbon lake, which are long, narrow and finger-like. Ribbon lakes were formed thousands of years ago during the ice age through glaciation: as the glacier bulldozed through a valley (glacial trough), it met bands of harder and softer rock. Erosion (mainly through abrasion: the process of rocks simply being scraped across the bedrock) was greater at the soft rock than the hard rock and so a dip was created. When the glacier melted the lake filled with the meltwater, which was held in by moraine (rock material) deposited by the glacier. A dam can also be created by the bands of harder rock either side of the softer rock. There is usually a river at both ends of a ribbon lake.

Islands

The lake contains 18 islands.^[4] By far the largest is the privately owned Belle Isle (40 acres (16 ha)) lying opposite Bowness and around a kilometre in length..

The other islands are considerably smaller. The island of Lady Holme is named after the church that formerly stood there. The remaining islands are Bee Holme, Blake Holme, Crow Holme, Fir Holme, Grass Holme, Lilies of the Valley (East, and West), Ling Holme, Hawes Holme, Hen Holme, Maiden Holme, Ramp Holme, Rough Holme, Snake Holme, Thompson Holme, Silver Holme.^[4]

Boats

The Windermere Ferry, a vehicle carrying cable ferry, runs across the lake from Ferry Nab on the eastern side of the lake to Far Sawrey on the western side of the lake. This service forms part of the B5285.

There are also passenger services that serve the length of the lake. These date back to the railway era, providing connection at Lakeside with a former Furness Railway branch, and were at one time operated by British Rail, the former state-owned rail operator. Since privatisation, three of the old railway boats are operated by Windermere Lake Cruises Ltd, along with a fleet of smaller and more modern launches. Although often described as steamers, the former railway boats are all in fact motor vessels, and are the MV Tern of 1891, the MV Teal of 1936, and the MV Swan of 1938.^[5]

Lake Monster

Like many bodies of water around the world, Windermere is reputed to contain one or more large, unusual fish or animals (see Eachy). The Centre for Fortean Zoology claims there have been many sightings of a giant eel-like creature in the lake stretching back to the 1950s. The 'monster' first made the news in 2006 after being spotted by university lecturer Steve Burnip and his wife Eileen. However it was a few months later, after a local photographer, Linden Adams, took photographs allegedly showing the creature, that the media, including the local Westmorland Gazette.[1], began to focus attention on the incidents at the lake.

This Article was sourced using Wikipedia