Seathwaite (Borrowdale)

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For other places with the same name, see Seathwaite (disambiguation).
Seathwaite
Seathwaite (Borrowdale) (Cumbria)
Seathwaite (Borrowdale)

Seathwaite shown within Cumbria
Shire county Cumbria
Region North West
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Police Cumbria
Fire Cumbria
Ambulance North West
European Parliament North West England
UK Parliament Workington
Copeland (after 2009/10)
List of places: UK • England • Cumbria

Coordinates: 54°29′49″N 3°11′00″W / 54.4968, -3.1834

Seathwaite is a hamlet in the Borrowdale valley in the Lake District of Cumbria, North West England. It is located 13 kilometres (8 mi) southwest of Keswick at the end of a minor road that heads south from the portion of the B5289 road that runs between Borrowdale parish and Seatoller over the Honister Pass.[1] The nearby Seathwaite Fell takes its name from the hamlet and lies about 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) to the south–southwest of it. The name derives from a combination of the old norse words sef (sedges) and thveit (clearing) and may be taken to mean "Sedges clearing". [2] The name, then spelled Seuthwayt, first appeared in written records dating from 1340. [3]

Along the nearby Newhouse Gill that descends from Grey Knotts is a graphite mine[4][5] that was started after the discovery of graphite there in 1555.[6] The extracted graphite was eventually used to supply the Cumberland Pencil factory in Keswick. The commercial mining of the unusual solid form of graphite found near Seathwaite hamlet was stopped by about 1891 when veins of the solid graphite became harder to find.[7] Also, around that time the Keswick pencil factories had switched to making pencil pigments out of the familiar combination of clay powder and graphite powder. Graphite powder could be mined and imported from elsewhere.[7] The mine entrance is north–northwest of the hamlet at 54°30′18.01″N, 3°11′13.01″W.[4][5]

Seathwaite is the wettest inhabited place in England and receives around 3,552 millimetres (140 in) of rain per year.[8][1]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b The nearby uninhabited Sty Head Tarn receives 4,369 millimetres (172 in) of rain per year. Ann Bowker. Seathwaite (Borrowdale) Cumbria the Lake District.. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
  2. ^ Stuart Rae (cites book by Robert Gambles). Lake District Walks and Photos. Retrieved on 2008-05-30.
  3. ^ Gambles, Robert (1985). Lake District Place-names, 2, Yorkshire: Dalesman, 64. ISBN 085206814X. 
  4. ^ a b Martin and Jean Norgate, Geography Department, Portsmouth University (2008). Old Cumbria Gazetteer, black lead mine, Seathwaite. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  5. ^ a b Alfred Wainwright (2005). A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Western Fells. ISBN 0-7112-2460-9. 
  6. ^ Ann Bowker, Julian Thurgood, and Dave Newton. Borrowdale Cumbria and the Lake District.. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
  7. ^ a b Industries of Cumbria - Wad. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
  8. ^ Lake District National Park Authority - Facts and figures. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
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