Seathwaite Tarn

Nestling in the cupped embrace of the Coniston Fells lies Seathwaite Tarn, all glittery and serene. It’s wrapped up by a wild autumn tapestry of dull olive, blazing copper, and pale maroon, sprinkled with a hint of grey cliffs and little patches of piney green. The fickle sky’s in a sullen mood, draping the shadowy fells in a wispy mist.

Now, about those tarns — a word borrowed from Old Norse, ‘tjorn,’ meaning a small lake. But how many tarns are there in the Lake District? Back in the 1950s and 1960s, a couple of folks from Grasmere swore they’d bathed in 730 of them. But a list published in 1993 gives you a more modest 220, with 40% of those having been modified by man, mainly for water abstraction¹Wilson, Peter. “Lake District Mountain Landforms”. Page 162. 2010. Scotforth Books..

Seathwaite Tarn is one such tarn. Back in 1904, they built a dam and raised the water level by 6 metres to supply water to the good folks in Barrow-in-Furness. At the peak of this little makeover, there was a workforce of about 500. They even set up a shop right up here for them, but those hardworking navvies would often nip down to the Newfield Inn in Seathwaite village²‘SEATHWAITE WATER SCHEME. | Millom Gazette | Friday 26 May 1905 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002289/19050526/082/0005> [accessed 11 October 2023].

One fine day, things went pear-shaped. The navvies had a bit of a dust-up, trashing the inn and other buildings in the village. In the heat of the moment, the innkeeper and his barman decided to make a stand. They fired their guns, and four of the men were shot. Sadly, one didn’t make it through the night³‘The Seathwaite Riot. | Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette | Thursday 28 July 1904 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000289/19040728/053/0005> [accessed 11 October 2023].

• 1
  Wilson, Peter. “Lake District Mountain Landforms”. Page 162. 2010. Scotforth Books.
• 2
  ‘SEATHWAITE WATER SCHEME. | Millom Gazette | Friday 26 May 1905 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002289/19050526/082/0005> [accessed 11 October 2023]
• 3
  ‘The Seathwaite Riot. | Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette | Thursday 28 July 1904 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000289/19040728/053/0005> [accessed 11 October 2023]