25 April 2024

By Greg Denieffe

Greg Denieffe discovers that there is only one lake in the Lake District.

In 1988, Cicerone Press published The Regatta Men by Alan Hankinson. The 45-page booklet tells the story of two local eccentrics who organised regattas in the English Lake District during the late 18th century. The typo in the book’s blurb may have raised the blood pressure of eagle-eyed rowing historians as they read, “Three centuries ago for ten years running, there was a grand regatta at the northern end of Derwentwater…”.  What’s a hundred years between friends.

The Cumberland Pacquet published on 3 August 1779 carried the following announcement:

NEW INN, OUSE-BRIDGE. RICHARD BIRBECK begs leave to inform the Ladies and Gentlemen, and the Public in general, that his House is now fit for the Reception of Company. On Tuesday, the 24th Day of August will be given gratis, a SILVER CUP of the Value of FIVE GUINEAS or upwards, to be Rowed for on Bassenthwaite Lake by any Boats not exceeding one Pair of Oars.

The first regatta on Derwentwater, Keswick, was held in 1781 and was organised by Joseph Pocklington, a wealthy businessman, and Peter Crosthwaite, a local guide and museum owner. The aim was to attract tourism to the area, and to this end, the organisers pulled out all the stops. Footraces around the lake, and a swimming race for horses were included in the programme, but the highlight was a mock battle consisting of a siege upon Pocklington’s Island by a fleet of rowing boats, crewed by musket-bearing men and commanded by Crosthwaite. The island’s fort was defended by cannon fire, and the resultant racket echoed back from the surrounding mountains. Trustees of Temple Island, take note!

The website ‘pastpresented.info’ has far more information on the Keswick Regattas from 1779 to 1786 than Hankinson’s booklet. After a decade of these Ripleyesque-type regattas, the craze died down, and pleasure boats were the only rowing craft seen on the lakes.

Nowadays, rowers are spoiled for choice with two clubs in the Lake District National Park: Lakeland Rowing Club (founded 2007) on Derwentwater, Keswick; and Windermere Rowing Club (founded 2015). Someone who has rowed with both is Alison Barr, a former primary school teacher from Edinburgh, now retired and living in the place that William Wordsworth called “The loveliest spot that man hath found”. As well as sculling on the lakes, Alison is also a poet writing about the sport she loves and the surrounding nature of her adopted home. In addition, she enhances her poetry with her own photographs.

Alison kind of ‘fell into rowing’. Ten years ago, she tumbled off a ladder and was badly injured. Then her luck really ran out when a couple of more accidents required her to spend months on crutches. Despite doing a lot of physio and strength work she found that many active, weight bearing movements had become quite difficult. So, when a learn to row course on Derwentwater came up she decided to try it.

Before she caught the rowing bug, it was poetry that Alison used as her escape and even published a collection, Honey & Stone,in 2017. She describes her latest collection CARA and ME as “a poetry pamphlet” and she kindly shared it with me. I have selected a few of my favourites to share with HTBS readers.

ESCAPE

I fold a little paper boat
smooth the creases
place it
upon the water.
I turn myself
into paper
step in
lock my blades.

ETERNAL

Long oars balance me
between sky and liquid.
Blade tips flick.
Burnished rings fall
into translucent waters.
Evanescent, shifting with the river’s pull.
They settle in broken shimmers,
illuminate ancient pine logs,
immense stumps,
mud-cradled.
Ebony minnows dot
horizontal reed strands.

BASSENTHWAITE (extract)

I sit here alone by the lakeside
on this chilly autumn morning.
Watch swallows
sipping mirror bright water,
silver circle scattered.
Stare at cloud banks
ablaze with rainbows,
the slant of the sun just right.
Wonder at shiny brambles
ghost-web shrouded,
diamond drizzled.
And all of this, I think
a poetical spirit would enjoy.

QUEEN OF THE LAKES

Tourist boats join the dots between Keswick,
Ashness, Lodore, High Brandlehow,
Low Brandlehow, Nichol End, Keswick.
Out on the water is another world,
of geese, wind, wavelets,
jetties, reeds, bobbing ducks.
Big lakeside hotels hold the promise
of warmth, cream teas and chats.
Favoured by couples, friends,
mothers and daughters.

KESWICK – ORIGINAL HOME OF THE PENCIL INDUSTRY

I select a black 12 and outline Catbells,
the lake, trees and clouds.
Derwentwater is shaded with blue 2.
Yellow 6 brings gorse to life.
At the invitation of the Virgin Queen,
German miners searched the hills for graphite.
Precious enough to warrant an escort to London.
Not for artists I hear you say. No, nothing as tranquil.
For cannonball moulds, shot and gun carriage lubricant.
The men of all things earthly and valuable lived in camps
strung along the lake shore and on the islands.
The place of The Whore’s Hut, Portinscale,
bustled with sixteenth-century comings and goings.
I choose green 4 sketching in the islands.
Brown 8 fills grassy hillsides.
I finish my sketch and place
the pencils into their metal box tray.
Lakeland BY CUMBERLAND. COLOUR PENCILS.
ASSORTMENT FOR SCHOOL AND GENERAL USE.

On the bank of the River Greta, Keswick, is one of Britain’s excentric museums – the Derwent Pencil Museum. The reason for its remote location, according to Cumbria.com, is because, one stormy day in Borrowdale in the sixteenth century, the river came flooding down the valley, trees were uprooted, and the messy aftermath revealed a mysterious black substance in the ground. Shepherds began using the material to mark their sheep, creating the world’s first pencils. They had discovered graphite.

Or so the story goes.

You can do your own research into the origin of the village name, Portinscale.

Not content with 10-kilometre laps of Derwentwater, Alison has signed on as a member of an eight-person crew that will take on the 3,200-kilometer challenge that is rowing around Britain. As a twist on the usual course, the crew will row anti-clockwise, beginning in June and taking about seven weeks to complete.

The expedition is called Counternavig8 GB – The Row Against the Flow, and you can follow their progress on Facebook and on Alison’s Instagram page. Each crew member is raising funds for their chosen charity and you can support Alison’s chosen charity – Alzheimer’s Research UK – on her GoFundMe page.

I’ll leave the final word to Alison:

LAUNCH (extract)

Check marina webcam.
Trees not moving, masts not swaying. Calm.
All systems go! Grab gear, tea, water, snack.
Can’t wait.