Wasdale, Cumberland

Historical Description

Wasdale, the vale of Wast Water, in Cumberland, extending 7½ miles south-westward from the foot of Styhead Pass to a point 5 miles NE of Ravenglass. It forms a bare, gloomy, profound mountain trough, engirt by Yewbarrow, Kirk Fell, Great Gable, Lingmell, and the Screes, and as seen from Scafell or Scawfell is called by Wordsworth " a den," yet though the wildest of all the Cumberland lake basins it is the grandest. Wast Water occupies much of its bottom; is 3 miles long, and almost everywhere about half a mile broad; has a surface elevation of 160 feet above sea-level; is very deep, and contains plenty of trout and a few char.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Wasdale from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Wasdale, or Nether Wasdale)

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cumberland is available to browse.