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| Wise Een Tarn | ||
|---|---|---|
| Historic Name | Wise Een Moss | |
| Name Meaning | Wise eye(s)(questionable) | |
| Name Origin | Old English / Old Norse | |
| Type | Artificial | |
| Max. Depth | 3 metres (10 feet) | |
| Surface Area | 4.4 hectares (10.8 acres)[1] | |
| Surface Elevation | 195 metres (644 feet) | |
| Access | Footpaths (pass by) | |
| Topo Map | OL7 Explorer | |
| Coordinates | 54.369530 , -2.9703392 | |
| OS Grid Ref. | SD370975 | |
| what3words | breath.uncouth.tile | |
Wise Een Tarn is about a ten minute walk north of Moss Eccles Tarn along the same ancient route over Claife Heights. It can be reached easily via both villages of Near Sawrey and Far Sawrey, as well as from Bowness using the ferry crossing. There are several different routes throughout the undulations, offering the walker plenty of options to explore the area on foot through a variety of access forest, pasture and moorland that Claife Heights is associated with.
Wise Een is another artificial tarn, similar to that of Moss Eccles, created from the mosses (bogs) that are prevalent on this plateau. One difference between these two tarns is that fishing is not allowed here. Wise Een is the largest of this grouping of tarns. The water is held back by an earth dam, given to the unnatural grassy straight lines on the north-western edge. There is a boathouse here too, framed perfectly offering enchanting views against the backdrop of the Langdale Fells. The path up to this point is predominantly in open countryside, with a few scattered trees, and small patches of forest plantations. There is no official path to the water’s edge, but it is only a short distance from the main path.
In a slightly elevated position on the other side of the path is the small and shallow Scale Head Tarn. A ten minute walk northwards is the location of High Moss Tarn.
Etymology
The name of this tarn comes from an uncertain background. Ordnance Survey were calling the tarns on the Claife plateau mosses, which comes from Old Norse mos and Old English mos, meaning an area of bog land. So, it comes as no surprise that in 1851, Ordnance Survey labelled this as Wise Een Moss, the same as nearby Moss Eccles Moss. However by 1919, it had settled on the current name, and classed it as a fish pond.
The oddity here is the word Een. This is a dialectal form of eyes, which comes fromthe Old English plural word ēagan, or the singular form eage ("eye"). So, whether Wise Een means wise eyes is subject to scrutiny.[2]
For the Old Norse word tarn, see etymology of tarn.