South of Lakebank, turning to left down a narrow lane through the
hamlet of Water Yeat, we reach Bouthray (Bouldery) Bridge over the
Crake, and see, half a mile further down, the new Blawith Church
on the site of an old Elizabethan chapel. Opposite it, across
the river by a footbridge, is Low Nibthwaite bobbin mill--in the
eighteenth century an important "forge" where iron was smelted
with charcoal.
Crossing the bridge, and leaving Arklid Farm on the right, 1-1/2
mile from Lakebank brings us to Nibthwaite, whence the lakeside
road leads in about 7-1/2 miles to Coniston Church, past Brantwood
and Waterhead; the path to the moors strikes up to the right hand
and across the breast of Selside. Another path leads to the Top of
Selside, 1,015 feet, with Arnsbarrow Tarn and Bell Beck descending
from it, to the south-west, with several good waterfalls. Bethecar
Moor is between Bell Beck and Nibthwaite--fine broken ground,
which seems to have been less inhabited than the other moors, for
no remains except a cairn (1-1/4 mile due west of Waterpark) have
been reported.
Two miles north of Nibthwaite is Parkamoor, which in the Middle
Ages was a sheep cote belonging to Furness Abbey. Recently, walled
up in an outbuilding, on a deserted farm near at hand, part of a
woman's skeleton was found. There is an obscure story of an old
lady who disappeared after residence at Parkamoor some generations
ago, but nothing has been proved as to the supposed murder; nor is
there any reason to connect this with an alleged ghost at Coniston
Bank, several miles distant.
Hence the path to the right goes to Satterthwaite, down Farragrain
Gill; northward, a track leads over the Heald, with magnificent
views, to the lonely hill farm of Lawson Park, another Furness
Abbey sheep cote (2-1/2 miles), and down to Lanehead and Coniston
(3-1/4 miles); or by a cart track met 1/4 mile above Lawson Park,
and leading upward and northward, we can traverse Monk Coniston
Moor, and descend to civilisation by the lane that crosses from
Grizedale to Lanehead. Along the ridge which forms the boundary
between Monk Coniston and Hawkshead is High Man (922 feet), where
in a cairn is a stone with the initials "J. W., 1771" and "E. D.,
1817," and on the west side of the stone "T. F., 1817"--evidently
a _merestone_ or boundary mark. A circle and other cairns have
been noted near this summit; the circle may be comparatively
modern, the ruins of a hut such as charcoal-burners make for
temporary lodgings in the woods.
High Cross, where the Coniston, Ambleside, and Hawkshead roads
meet, is close at hand, 2-1/2 miles from Coniston Church.
3.--BANNISIDE AND TORVER MOORS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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