Esthwaite Water

Esthwaite Water is one of the smaller and lesser known lakes in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is situated between the much larger lakes of Windermere and Coniston Water in the Furness area. To the north is the village of Hawkshead and to the west is Grizedale Forest.

Esthwaite Water
Esthwaite Water
Esthwaite Water Location in the Lake District National Park Show map of the Lake District Esthwaite Water Location in South Lakeland, Cumbria Show map of the former South Lakeland district
Map (1925)
Location	Lake District, Cumbria
Coordinates	54°21′N 2°59′W
Basin countries	United Kingdom
Surface area	280 acres (1.1 km2)
Average depth	6.4 m (21.0 ft)
Max. depth	15.5 m (50.9 ft)
Residence time	0.26 years
Surface elevation	65.3 m (214 ft)
Islands	1
Ramsar Wetland
Designated	7 November 1991
Reference no.	536[1]

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The lake covers around 280 acres (1.1 km²) and is known for its excellent fishing, particularly trout and pike. It has been designated as a site of special scientific interest.

Toponymy

Esthwaite may mean either "the eastern clearing", with Middle English est, probably replacing Old Norse austr 'east', and Norse þveit "clearing", or 'the clearing where ash trees grow', from Norse eski "ash trees, ash copse" (see askr) and again þveit.^[2] Derivation from Brittonic *ïstwïth, "bent, curved, flexible, supple" has also been suggested (Welsh ystwyth, see River Ystwyth).^[3]

'Water' is Old English wæter, "water" the dominant term for "lake" (cf. Ullswater, Wastwater).^[4]

Wordsworth poems

The lake was mentioned as the location where William Wordsworth conversed with a friend in Wordsworth's poem, "Expostulation and Reply," part of Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads and, in the same collection, it is the location for "Lines Left Upon A Seat In A Yew-Tree." Wordsworth also mentions it in his Prelude in line 267: "Make green peninsulas on Esthwaite's Lake", and also at line 570: "From Esthwaite's neighbouring lake the splitting ice". The poem "The vale of Esthwaite" (1787) was Wordsworth's first effort at sustained composition.^[5]

Ecology

Esthwaite is notable as one of the most nutrient rich of the mesotrophic lakes in Cumbria, with large seasonal and inter-annual variations in phosphorus supply.^[6] As well as the more common British species of pondweed in the genus Potamogeton, slender naiad (Najas flexilis) is also present.^[7]