 |
||
| Blea Tarn (Watendlath) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Historic Name | blár + tjǫrn | |
| Name Meaning | The dark mountain pool | |
| Type | Small valley tarn | |
| Inflows | 1 inlet (south) | |
| Outflows | Bleatarn Gill | |
| Max. Length | 518 metres (1,700ft) | |
| Max. Width | 244 metres (880ft) | |
| Max. Depth | 13 metres (42.6ft) | |
| Surface Area | 8.56 hectares (21.16 ac) | |
| Surface Elevation | 478 metres (1,568ft) | |
| Access | Footpaths | |
| Topo Map | OL4 Explorer | |
| Coordinates | 54.517364 , -3.0962722 | |
| OS Grid Ref. | NY 29131 14116 | |
| what3words | worldwide.cage.lifestyle | |
Blea Tarn is a small valley lake, along with others such as Little Langdale Tarn, Loughrigg Tarn, and one its neighbours, Watendlath Tarn. These types of tarns, eight in total, were formed similiarly to the 17 big lakes of Lakeland. They are essentially smaller piedmont lakes, also known as ribbon lakes, with the distinctive shape of long and narrow stretches of water. The tarn sits in a pleasant hollow, albeit somewhat empty-looking. Its open setting is surrounded by gentle slopes of coarse grassland, in a higher section of the valley 215m above that of its lower neighbour.[1] The whole area sits roughly midway across a broad ridge of a peaty moorland,[2] and multiple minor unnamed tarns, too small to merit importance. To the south-west are the crags of Coldbarrow Fell, which do not overshadow the water in the slightest, giving a sense of a sweeping landscape with surprisingly little to see, especially at water level. However, the emptiness of the landscape does not detract from its natural beauty. The summit of nearby Low Saddle offers variation in the landscape as do pockets of yellow water lilies.[2]
There are three such named tarns in Lakeland. This Blea Tarn has at an elevation of 478m (1,568ft), a depth of 13m (43ft), and is identified by its location on Watendlath Fell; others may associate with its proximity to Borrowdale. The other two are Blea Tarn (Langdale), and Blea Tarn (Eskdale). Back at Watendlath, this tarn's source comes from the slopes of Ullscarf, which rises due south to a fairly impressive 726m. The inflow feeds in from the southern end, whilst the outflow spills out from the north-west, winding and meandering its way ever downwards as the rocky Bleatarn Gill, through various terrains, gathering tributaries along the way towards the lower valley farmland and eventually, Watendlath Tarn.
Small valley lakes were formed as a result of "differential erosion of the rocky floors of the valleys...by smaller glacier streams in tributary valleys to the major radiating troughs of the district."[3] Here, at Blea Tarn, the hollow is a rock basin. It was formed by the Watendlath valley glacier, a tongue of ice moving in a northward direction. The western shore of the tarn contains "many rough ice shorn crags and are scattered with perched blocks of volcanic rocks," while one the eastern shore it is "covered with glacial till, peat and poor wet upland grassland."[1] Unlike cirque tarns, there is no obvious sign of a moraine at the outflow.
Getting to Blea Tarn is fairly straight-forward. Follow the bridleway from the hamlet of Watendlath, where there is an initial steep climb. Then where the path forks, continue to follow in a south-easterly direction along a relatively gentle gradient (in some places this can be quite boggy) for around one and half miles until you arrive at the tarn. If you prefer a longer hike, you can continue along the path until you see a coniferous plantation, Harrop Tarn, and Thirlmere beyond.
And speaking of Thirlmere, there once stood Armboth Hall. In Heaton Cooper's The Tarns of Lakeland (1960), he describes Armboth Hall disappearance after the Manchester Corporation bought the land for the sole purpose of flooding the valley to supply the ever increasing need of fresh water for the city.[4] Whilst this bears little connection in today's climate, the entire area on this ridge around the tarn was used as a sheep run by the wealthy land-owning Jackson family, whose home Armboth Hall had been for generations. The tides had turned when 18 year old Mary Jackson married Polish Count Boris Ossalinsky in 1839. After forty years, she reluctantly sold the land (and then lake Thirlmere) to the ruthless Manchester Corporation, whom had shown great interest in this estate, paying over and above their original offer.[4] A book that covers this story is Countess Ossalinsky & The Thirlmere Dam, by Ian Hall.
Etymology
The origin of this name has direct links with Old Norse where blár (blue, black, a dark colour) + tjǫrn (small lake, pond, tarn) roughly translates to the dark mountain pool. As these influences are given to time, we can see the similarities with Middle English blo (noun: bruise, blueness) + terne, tarne (lake, pool, pond),[5]
Other names recorded are: Blaterne (1217), Bleaterne (1587), Blatarne (1612).[6]
References
Sources
- Blair, Don (2003). Exploring Lakeland Tarns: A Complete Guide. Revised Edition. Keswick: Lakeland Manor Press.
- Cooper, W.H. (1960). The Tarns of Lakeland. London: Frederick Warne and Co. Ltd.
- Middle English Compendium (MEC). Edited by Robert E. Lewis, et al. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1952-2001. Online edition in Middle English Compendium. Edited by Frances McSparran, et al. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Library.
- Smith, Alan (2012). The Big Lakes of Lakeland. The Landscapes of Cumbria No.5. Keswick: Rigg Side Publications.
- Whaley, Diana (2006). A Dictionary of Lake District Place-Names. English Place-Name Society. School of English Studies, University of Nottingham.