Kirkstone Pass

(See also Brothers Water)

Most potent when mists veil the sky,
Mists that distort and magnify;
While the coarse rushes, to the sweeping breeze,
Sigh forth their ancient melodies!
William Wordsworth (Kirkstone Pass)

The Kirkstone Pass road, as described by Wordsworth, easily lives up to its poetic image. At 1489 feet (454 metres), it is the highest road pass in the Lake District. Consequently, it provides stunning views over the Lakeland fells and Brothers Water, a small lake at the foot of the pass. The name of the pass comes from a large boulder nearby that resembles a little church (kirk). Wordsworth wrote about it in Kirkstone Pass:

--and yon, whose church-like frame
Gives to this savage Pass its name.
Aspiring Road! that lov'st to hide
Thy daring in a vapoury bourn . . .

Celia Fiennes, the intrepid 17^th century single woman traveler, wrote of the pass that she was walled in on both sides by those inaccessible high rocky baren hills, which hang over one's head in some places and appear very terrible. . .

Horse drawn coaches plied the unpaved road from Penrith. It was a struggle for the horses to make the ascent from Brothers Water to the top of the pass, and passengers were required to pile out of the coach and walk to the top. Hence the road along this section became known as The Struggle. Once reaching the zenith of the pass, the descent into Windermere was a swift and hair-raising one as the horses plunged along the narrow, steep and winding road. There was little time to enjoy the stunning views over the Troutbeck valley.

Thomas de Quincey writes in Excursion over Kirkstone Pass in 1807: In some parts it is almost frightfully steep; for the road being only the original mountain track of shepherds, gradually widened and improved from age to age. . . .is carried over ground which no engineer, even in alpine countries, would have viewed as practicable.

Sitting at the top of the pass is the junction of two roads, one leading to Ambleside, the other to Windermere. Here, the 17^th century Travellers' Inn provided comfort and shelter. The building became derelict but was rebuilt in 1847 and renamed the Kirkstone Pass Inn. Subject to the vagaries of wind, snow, horizontal rain, and mountain mist, this long, low building with blackened beams and a stone floor provides a welcoming open fire in winter. Proclaimed to be the third highest pub in England, it is, purportedly, riddled with ghosts.

There are numerous ghost stories associated with the inn, and many visitors report strange presences. One ghost is of a woman who attempted to traverse the road in a snowstorm and died along the way. Supposedly her spirit lurks about the building. Another is that of a coachman dressed in 17^th century clothing that mysteriously appeared in a photograph taken in front of the inn in 1993. The ghost, who was the great, great grandfather of the family photographed, followed them home and now lives with them.

There are tales of a frightening grey woman and the ghost of a lost hiker who worked at the inn and now plays poltergeist tricks there. Another ghost, that of a woman hanged for murdering her child, haunts a nearby tree, appropriately called the Hangman's Tree.

There is little besides the inn and the paved road along the Kirkstone Pass to remind anyone of the presence of man. Thomas de Quincy wrote of the view from Kirkstone Pass, . . .It is solemn, and profoundly impressive. But it is Wordsworth's words that provide the most fitting testament:

. . .Who comes not hither ne'er shall know
How beautiful the world below;. . .

Kirkstone Pass is on the A592 between Ullswater and Windermere-Ambleside.

Photos courtesy of Graeme Dougal and Tony Richards

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