The English Lakes:Recent articles/Bassenthwaite Lake

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The lake's origins relate directly to the last glacial period and the effects of a glacially eroded valley that possibly linked Bassenthwaite Lake with that of Derwentwater as one much larger body of water, seen similarly with Buttermere and Crummock Water. Today, they are connected only by the River Derwent, which meanders through the long-ago silted up alluvial plain that separates the two lakes. It is the only body of water in the Lake District with the word lake in its title. Every other lake uses either mere or water. The name Bassenthwaite means Bastun's clearing where Bassen comes from the Anglo-French surname Bastun, which originally meant stick, and thwaite is related to Old Norse þveit meaning a clearing or more accurately, forest land cleared for agriculture or habitation. The lake took its name from the village of Bassenthwaite.(read more)