Lakes of the Lake District

It is a misconception that the Lake District has "lakes." It is much more than that. If you go by name alone it has only one lake, Bassenthwaite Lake. Semantics aside, the Lake District does has more than one lake. In fact it has multiple lakes of different sizes in the form of meres, waters and tarns, dotted throughout this rugged, yet beautiful landscape. These words are synonymous with the bodies of water that were born is this wide open land, either by glacial withdrawal or by human intervention.

Thanks to the of 10,000 years ago, the retreating ice left us with glacially erodes valleys that formed the lake district we see today. Not only the ice but people too are responsible for changing the landscape. Haweswater and Thirlmere are reservoirs, although the former was once a natural lake. It was dammed to raise the water level in a bid to supply fresh water for the people of Manchester, at a price that flooded two cumbrian villages, now lost to the murky darkness. The once ebb and flow of ice and, in much more recent times, people, continue to have an effect on the natural backdrop of the second oldest national park in England.

The larger of the lakes usually carry the suffix of mere or water, whilst the humble tarn is usually reserved for the smaller bodies of water. However, there are some tarns larger than lakes, just confuse matters. Each body of water, large and small, encompassed by neighbouring fells, woodland and moors, bestow a natural beauty individual in character. One of the best ways to experience this is on foot.

Where do the names come from?

 * Mere:


 * Water:


 * Tarn: