Great Langdale, Cumberland
Historical Description
Langdale, Great, an upland vale in Langdale ecclesiastical parish, Grasmere parish, Westmorland. It commences at the Stake Mountain, on the boundary with Cumberland, extends 5 miles south-eastward to Eiter Water, forms two ravines called Millgill and Mickleden for nearly 2½ miles from its head, makes a junction with Little Langdale at Eiter Water, and is traversed by the upper reaches of the river Brathay. A mountain group called the Langdale Pikes occupies the space between Millgill and Mickleden, soars into three peaks, rugged, steep, and picturesque-the highest with an altitude of 2424 feet; figures conspicuously in much of the Lake region, and commands from all the peaks, especially from the highest, extensive and magnificent views. The reach downward from that mountain group to Eiter Water is flanked on the right by Lingmoor, on the left by the Grasmere mountains; its sides are a continual alternation of spurs, large and small, high and low, from these mountain flanks, and its bottom is a series of flat tracts, everywhere variable, ranging from closeness to openness, and from circular sweep to sinuous progress. A darkly romantic waterfall, called the Dungeon Ghyll Force, is at the skirt of the Pikes. A road thence, by High Close into Grasmere, com mands a surpassingly beautiful view. Quarries of blue slate are at Thrang and Eiter Water Crag, near the foot of the vale. See DUNGEON GHYLL and ELTER WATER.
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cumberland is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Great Langdale are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)