A journey along the River Derwent in Cumbria

We continue our series following Cumbria’s rivers with a journey along the Derwent

Thanks to the popularity of Derwentwater, one of the most visited lakes in Cumbria, the Derwent is one of the county’s best-known rivers.

It starts life at Sprinkling Tarn under Great End and flows north through the Borrowdale valley, continues on through Derwentwater and is joined by the river Greta on exiting the lake to the north west of Keswick.

From here it is tracked by the A591 to join Bassenthwaite Lake at its south east corner. Flowing out of the lake at its northern end it takes a sharp left to reach Cockermouth, where it is joined by the Cocker joins. The river continues past Papcastle, site of the Roman fort of Derventio, then flows south west to reach the Irish Sea at Workington at speeds that are said to make it among the fastest in Europe.

The Derwent through Cockermouth (Image: Cumbria Tourism)

The two confluences with the Greta and Cocker have conspired in the past and caused major flooding in both Cockermouth and Keswick, but the Derwent remains a much-loved river.

For a young William and Dorothy Wordsworth, it was like a friend – their home in Cockermouth Main Street backed on to the river – and William wrote of it with immense affection in The Prelude:

Was it for this

That one, the fairest of all rivers, loved

To blend his murmurs with my nurse's song,

And from his alder shades and rocky falls,

And from his fords and shallows sent a voice

That flowed along my dreams? For this didst thou,

O Derwent! winding among grassy holms

Where I was looking on, a babe in arms,

Make ceaseless music that composed my thoughts

To more than infant softness, giving me,

Amid the fretful dwellings of mankind,

A foretaste, a dim earnest, of the calm

That Nature breathes among the hills and groves.

The poem goes on to describe walking on the terrace along the Derwent, “a tempting playmate whom we dearly loved”; it was a place for bathing on a summer’s day when the children would bask in the sun then plunge, and bask, again.

The Derwent is said to have been officially named by Sir Braelyn Smith in 1634 after he laid claim to the baronies of Allerdale, its name translating from the ancient ‘river of oaks’.

In his 2013 book, River Derwent: From Sea to Source, HC Ivison points to evidence of occupation and industry along the river from the Iron Age onwards. In the same way its beauty juxtaposes with danger, he also notes that the Derwent was sometimes called “the river of saints and sinners”, as it was used by smugglers as well as clerics.

Back to the start and gentle Sprinkling Tarn is a beautiful, peaceful spot away from the hustle and bustle of Scafell Park – at least on a perfect spring day when the area’s record-breaking rainfall stays away. Below here Styhead Gill and Grains Gill merge as the Derwent begins its course.

Bowder Stone

Further down the valley, the Bowder Stone is Borrowdale’s best known feature. The precarious but balanced andesite lava boulder fell 200 metres from the Bowder Crag on Kings How between 13,500 and 10,000 years ago. It is estimated to weigh 2,000 tonnes, is 30 feet high, 30 feet wide and 90 feet in circumference. A new metal ladder replaced the old wooden ladder in 2019.

Derwentwater has a claim on being the birthplace of the National Trust, the lakeshore at Brandlehow becoming the first place in the Lake District to be protected for the nation in 1902 - a fact marked by the sculpture Entrust by John Merrill, known locally as 'the hands sculpture'.

Most of the landscape around the lake is cared for by the trust thanks to the activism of Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, one of the three founders of the charity in 1895.

Today the area is one of tranquil beauty but it was once a hive of industrial activity. Iron smelting, charcoal burning and mining for copper, silver, lead and graphite all took place here. Indeed, in the 1560s, during Queen Elizabeth I ‘s reign, miners were brought in from Germany to prospect and share their expertise such was the demand for the area’s products.

Armathwaite Hall (Image: Cody Dillabough) Spoil heaps from the mines still exist as reminders and Force Crag Mine, which is managed by the National Trust, is open to the public for a few days each year.

The German miners are credited by some with the development of the Cumberland sausage, using local meat combined with the spices that came into the county through Whitehaven.

The long history with graphic continues today at the Derwent Pencil Museum, the home of the first pencil (and an eight-metre colour pencil) which visitors enter through a replica graphite mine.

The Derwent is known for containing salmon. However, both Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite have unwanted inhabitants including invasive non-native species such as New Zealand pigmyweed. West Cumbria Rivers Trust and the National Trust are asking locals and visitors to be vigilant and to clean all clothing and kit such as paddleboards, wetsuits and angling equipment to ensure they don’t contaminate other bodies of water.

Tackling Himalayan balsam along the Derwent (Image: West Cumbria Rivers Trust)

Despite high levels of rainfall in the area watercourses like the Derwent can dry up when there is little rainfall due to being perched or modified from their natural course. It is why, in the past few years, the National Trust and West Cumbria Rivers Trust have been undertaking award-winning river restoration work to help mitigate the effects of climate change in the Derwent catchment.

The trust’s Riverland project has included several sites: Stonethwaite had embankments removed and flood plains restored to help keep water in the land; at Dunthwaite, en route to Cockermouth, ponds were created and black poplars, an important wetland species that has all but disappeared from Cumbria, were successfully introduced.

Meanwhile, the partners recently asked lake lovers to support their campaign to help win bathing water status for the Crow Park area of Derwentwater and feedback on consultation on the proposal to Defra.

The benefits of bathing water status are regular water quality testing and increased information for users on the safety of the water.

In order for bathing water status to be given, the site is required to have a minimum infrastructure of public toilets, car parking, litter bins and cafes – all of which are available in and around Crow Park and its adjoining Lakeside area – and to show evidence of bathing. A survey last summer confirmed there were 150 bathers in just four hours on many sunny days at the site.

Jodie Mills, director of West Cumbria Rivers Trust says: “Achieving bathing water status for Derwentwater isn’t about increasing the number of bathers. People are enjoying the lake regardless of its status (as our surveys show), this is about increasing transparency on what is in our water and ensuring this wonderful asset is fit for us all to enjoy. Regular testing will ensure that we know whether these waters are fit to swim in and where there are issues found, it enables them to be rectified.”

Among lake users is Lakeland Rowing Club, which had hoped to make history this winter when more than 400 oarsmen and women from across the North of England and Ireland were due to converge on Derwentwater for the biggest rowing event ever held on the lake.

The fastest crew in the 2023 Derwentwater Head from Durham (Image: Lakeland Rowing Club)

An event last year was the first full-scale Derwentwater Head race since the Victorian era when crews travelled from as far away as London by train and carried their 18-metre boats through the town to the shore.

The British Rowing backed spectacle this year would have seen around 100 crews of rowers aged 15-75 race the length of the lake in the time trial-style competition, but sadly strong winds prevented it from taking place. Organisers hope to try again next year.

Julia McCumiskey, Lakeland Rowing Club’s chair, says: “Our beautiful lake is unlike any other location on the British Rowing racing calendar, and there’s a lot of excitement among the rowing community about competing on it.”

Lakeland RC held a small-scale trial event in 2019 before hosting the inaugural full-scale event in March 2023, with an eight from Josephine Butler College, at Durham University, completing the 3km course in 11 minutes 36.4 seconds.

The Lake District National Park Authority says Bassenthwaite Lake, which has been home to ospreys and, like Derwentwater, vendace fish from the Ice Age, is “under threat”. The lake is relatively shallow, being only 19 metres at its deepest point – the rate of sediment accumulation on the bed has doubled over the past 100 years – and “water quality is poor and polluted, seriously affecting the wildlife”.

Himalayan balsam and New Zealand pygmyweed are a problem in Bassenthwaite Lake too crowding out species like floating water-plantain.

Cockermouth continues to thrive as a busy market town with a strong showing of independent shops, cafés, pubs and restaurants and a programme of events throughout the year, the biggest of which are the annual Taste Cumbria food festivals that provide a showcase for artisan producers.

Then it is on to Workington which, for some, is the place to start the 137-mile Sea to Sea (C2C) cycle ride.

Ashness Bridge (Image: Imagen Photography Ltd)

Things to do along the River Derwent in Cumbria

PHOTO OP – head down from Sprinkling Tarn for views of Borrowdale; the Bowder Stone; Ashness Bridge and Surprise View

PIT STOP – Flock-In tearoom at Yew Tree Farm, Rosthwaite; Royal Oak, Borrowdale, winner of the 2023 Cumbria Life Award for best casual dining experience; Café Hope, The Round and Fellpack, in Keswick; Lingholm Kitchen; Bassenthwaite Lake Station; Lakes Distillery; Moon & Sixpence and Fika in Cockermouth

TOP SHOP – George Fisher, Treeby & Bolton, Northern Lights gallery, Bookends, The Real North and Lucy Pittaway in Keswick; The New Bookshop, Choc of the North, JB Banks, Percy House Gallery and Jacy’s, in Cockermouth

HOT SPOT – Theatre by the Lake and Alhambra Cinema, Keswick; Thornthwaite Galleries; Lakes Distillery; Kirkgate Arts Centre and Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth; Carnegie Theatre and Helena Thompson Museum, Workington

FAMILY STOP – water sports or take a ferry on Derwentwater; Pencil Museum; Castlerigg Stone Circle, outside Keswick; walk Walla Cragg, Catbells and Latrigg; Alpacly Ever After at Lingholm Estate; Whinlatter Forest; Lake District Wildlife Park; Wordsworth House and Garden, in Cockermouth

AND FLOP – Lodore Falls Hotel; the recently refurbished Borrowdale Hotel; newly reopened Fellpack House, in Keswick; Armathwaite Hall; Tithe Barn, Cockermouth