| Bowness-on-Windermere | |
Bowness-on-Windermere Town Centre |
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Bowness-on-Windermere
Bowness-on-Windermere shown within Cumbria |
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| Population | 3,814 |
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| OS grid reference | SD403969 |
| Parish | Windermere |
| District | South Lakeland |
| Shire county | Cumbria |
| Region | North West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WINDERMERE |
| Postcode district | LA23 |
| Dialling code | 01539 |
| Police | Cumbria |
| Fire | Cumbria |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | Westmorland and Lonsdale |
| List of places: UK • England • Cumbria | |
Bowness-on-Windermere is a town in South Lakeland, Cumbria, England. Due its position on the banks of Windermere the town has become a tourist honeypot. Although their mutual growth has caused them to become one large settlement, the town is distinct from the town of Windermere as the two still have distinguishable town centres. In 2012, Bowness will be one of the official stop off points for the Olympic torch before it makes its way to the Olympic Games opening ceremony.[1]
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The town's ancient parish church of St Martin was built in 1483 but of an older foundation. The former rectory is said to have been built in 1415.[2] Bowness-on-Windermere became a civil parish in 1894 and an urban district council was formed for the town at the same time. In 1905, the council merged with that of Windermere, and the two civil parishes merged in 1974 under the name of Windermere. The civil parish is governed by a town council.
Windermere railway station offers train and bus connections to the surrounding areas, Manchester, Manchester Airport, and the West Coast Main Line, and is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the lakefront. Both Stagecoach and the local council provide frequent connecting buses from Bowness Pier; Stagecoach's open-top double-decker buses travel through the centre of town and continue to Ambleside and Grasmere, while the council's wheelchair-accessible minibuses run around the edge of town. The Windermere Ferry, a car carrying cable ferry, connects Bowness at Ferry Nab on the eastern side of the lake with Ferry House Far Sawrey on the western side of the lake, a trip of approx. 10 mins.
Readers of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of books will recognise Bowness as the lakeside town of 'Rio'. The collection at the Windermere Steamboat Museum (see restoration project homepage at www.steamboat.co.uk) on Rayrigg Road includes TSSY Esperance, 1869; one of the iron steamboats on which Ransome modelled Captain Flint's houseboat. Bowness On Windermere is also home to the Beatrix Potter attraction.
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