Sourmilk Gill (Grasmere): Difference between revisions

 

 

 

==Etymology==

 

The word ''Sourmilk'' comes from three elements. The first, from Old English ''[[wiktionary:sur#Old English|sūr]]'' and/or Old Norse ''[[wiktionary:súrr|súrr]]'', both meaning ''sour''. The second comes from Old English ''[[wiktionary:meolc|meolc]]'', which is ''milk'', and the third element, from Old Norse ''[[wiktionary:gil|gil]]'', meaning ''ravine'' or ''gully''. With regards to the Lake District, ''gill'' pertains especially to a ravine with a stream, and sometimes just refers to the stream itself.<ref>{{whaley|315}}</ref> This particular Sourmilk Gill (Easedale) was also known as Churnmilk Force by the romantic poet {{w1|Samuel Taylor Coleridge}} and diarist {{w1|Dorothy Wordsworth}}. Similarly, Sourmilk Force was also in use around the same time.

<blockquote>

...."Easdale Tarn, which is one of the largest mountain tarns, seated in the western branch of Grasmere vale among rocky precipices, of which Blakerigg, or Blea Crag, is the principal. Its stream — from its frothy whiteness called Sourmilk Gill — is a striking object from the road."<ref>{{Otley-1834|34}}</ref>

 

==Route to Easedale Tarn==

==References==

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