Brothers Water

Brothers Water is one of the smallest lakes in Lakeland, located in the picturesque Hartsop/Patterdale valley, approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) south of Patterdale near Glenridding. It can be reached via the A592 Kirkstone Pass, which connects Windermere and Ullswater through some of the most stunning and rugged mountain scenery. The descent into Hartsop is indeed dramatic, the drystone walled road winding its way ever downwards, surrounded by vast open slopes; Hartsop Dodd to the east and High Hartsop Dodd to the west. Its shape is unlike the other lakes, which usually takes the ribbon form, shaped and carved by the ice many millennia ago. Here, however, the lake takes on a distinctly more rectangular shape, caused by nature and time.

Although only a fraction larger than Elter Water, Brothers Water was at one time much larger than its current size. Due to a high sedimentary inflow and the natural creation of an alluvial fan (new land formed by sedimentary build up), the lake's size has been reduced by around 900 metres. This fan, created slowly over an extremely long period of time, is effectively a dam holding back the water against a very gentle slope of now arable land. The lake itself is relatively shallow at 16.7 metres at its deepest point. In addition to this, there is a substantial amount of debris located at the lake bottom.

Brothers Water is fed by two main sources: Kirkstone Beck and Dovedale Beck, which first passes through farmland and then a combination of reed marsh and wooded wetland that borders the southern banks. At the norther end, Hayeswater Gill (fed from Hayeswater Reservoir) flows into Pasture Beck, the source that formed the aforementioned alluvial fan across the valley floor. The village of Hartsop is located here, and forms part of the Civil Parish of Patterdale. There is no circular walk around the lake, but the 1:25,000 scale Ordnance Survey map clearly shows a footpath that runs parallel with the western shore and a permissive footpath on the western shore, sandwiched between the lake and the A592. This area offers walkers and hikers various different routes in the surround fells.

Etymology
The lake's name may derive from the Old Norse bróðir, which means brother.

Depending on source material from the 17th to 19th centuries, the two main names recorded are Broad Water, with the variations Broader-water (1692), Broader Water (1770), and Brothers Water, with the singular variations Brother-water (1671), Brotherwater (1787). During the 18th century, both names were in use, as suggested in William Hutchinson's The History of the County of Cumberland (1794). It is, however, claimed that Brothers Water comes from the unfortunate siblings that happen to drown here, corroborated by Dorothy Wordsworth in November 1805 from Excursion on the Banks of Ullswater.

The village of Hartsop takes its name from Old English and generally means the valley of the stag. The first element heorot means stag or hart (male deer), and hóp means a piece of raised or enclosed land in the midst of fen, marsh, or waste land. In Middle English, hōpe means a small valley, or a secondary valley from a main valley.

National Trust
Hartsop Hall and Brothers Water are owned by the National Trust. This singular tract of land, totalling, 1861.86 acres, includes farmland in the valley and the fells above, including Hartsop Hall Farm, Dovedale, Low Wood and surrounding fells, from Hart Crag to the Kirkstone Pass and the lake itself. Ownership was transferred to the Trust in 1947 through the National Land Fund. This was the first property to be acquired this way. Many other tracts of land, including farmland and fells, are also owned by the trust. Hartsop is completely enclosed by National Trust land.