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Bleatarn House, Lakes
Bleatarn House
locality:-   Little Langdale
civil parish:-   Lakes (formerly Westmorland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   buildings
coordinates:-   NY29500483
1Km square:-   NY2904
10Km square:-   NY20

photograph
BLK26.jpg (taken 17.11.2005)  
photograph
BSC83.jpg (taken 1.2.2010)  
evidence:-   old map:- OS County Series (Wmd 25 7) 
placename:-  Bleatarn House
source data:-   Maps, County Series maps of Great Britain, scales 6 and 25 inches to 1 mile, published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton, Hampshire, from about 1863 to 1948.
evidence:-   old map:- Jefferys 1770 (Wmd) 
placename:-  Blea Tarn
source data:-   Map, 4 sheets, The County of Westmoreland, scale 1 inch to 1 mile, surveyed 1768, and engraved and published by Thomas Jefferys, London, 1770.
image
J5NY20NE.jpg
"Blea Tarn"
circle, labelled in italic lowercase text; settlement, farm, house, or hamlet? 
item:-  National Library of Scotland : EME.s.47
Image © National Library of Scotland
evidence:-   descriptive text:- Otley 1823 (5th edn 1834) 
item:-  Recluse, The; poem
source data:-   Guide book, A Concise Description of the English Lakes, the mountains in their vicinity, and the roads by which they may be visited, with remarks on the mineralogy and geology of the district, by Jonathan Otley, published by the author, Keswick, Cumberland now Cumbria, by J Richardson, London, and by Arthur Foster, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, 1823; published 1823-49, latterly as the Descriptive Guide to the English Lakes.
image OT01P104, button  goto source
Page 104:-  "[Leav]ing the tarn and solitary farm house - the scene of Wordsworth's Recluse - on the left, ..."
evidence:-   old drawing:- Aspland 1840s-60s
source data:-   Drawing, pencil, the Solitary's House, Bleatarn House, Little Langdale, Westmorland, by Theophilus Lindsey Aspland, July 1841.
image  click to enlarge
AS0142.jpg
"Solitary's House / TLA delt. / July 1841 / near Blea tarn."
item:-  Armitt Library : 1958.487.42
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old drawing:- Aspland 1840s-60s
placename:-  Solitary's House
source data:-   Drawing, pencil, the Solitary's House, Bleatarn House, Little Langdale, Westmorland, by Theophilus Lindsey Aspland, 1849?
image  click to enlarge
AS0156.jpg
"Solitary's House"
item:-  Armitt Library : 1958.487.56
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old text:- Martineau 1855
item:-  poem; Excursion, The
source data:-   Guide book, A Complete Guide to the English Lakes, by Harriet Martineau, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, and by Whittaker and Co, London, 1855; published 1855-76.
image MNU1P148, button  goto source
Page 148:-  "... the valley in which Blea Tarn lies,- the scene of those books of Wordsworth's Excursion which relate to the Solitary. The very rough road scrambles up from Langdale, by Wall End, to the upland vale where the single farmhouse is, ..."
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, b/w, Bleatarn House, Little Langdale, Westmorland, by Herbert Bell, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s?
image  click to enlarge
HB0332.jpg
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS692
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   database:- Listed Buildings 2010
placename:-  Blea Tarn House
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"BLEA TARN HOUSE / / / LAKES / SOUTH LAKELAND / CUMBRIA / II / 452291 / NY2949204822"
evidence:-   old painting:- 
placename:-  Blea Tarn Farm
source data:-   Painting, watercolour, Blea Tarn Farm now Bleatarn House, Lakes, Cumbria, by Helen Somers, mid 20th century.
image  click to enlarge
PR0431.jpg
ms at bottom:-  "Helen Somers. Blea Tarn Farm."
item:-  Dove Cottage : 2008.107.423
Image © Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere
evidence:-   old print:- MacBride 1922
source data:-   Print, colour, The Abode of The Solitary, Blea Tarn, Bleatarn House, by Alfred Heaton Cooper, published by Adam and Charles Black, 4-6 Soho Square, London, 2nd edn 1928.
image  click to enlarge
MB0121.jpg
Tipped in opposite p.140 in Wild Lakeland by MacKenzie MacBride. 
printed at bottom:-  "THE ABODE OF 'THE SOLITARY,' BLEAT TARN"
signed at lower right:-  "A. HEATON COOPER"
item:-  JandMN : 195.23
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Robertson 1911
placename:-  Blea Tarn Farm
source data:-   Print, lithograph? Blea Tarn Farm, from a watercolour by Arthur Tucker, published by Chatto and Windus, London, 1911.
image  click to enlarge
RSN145.jpg
Tipped in opposite p.290 of Wordsworthshire by Eric Robertson. 
printed at bottom:-  "BLEA TARN FARM / (Home of the Solitary, in The Excursion)"
signed at painting lower left:-  "Arthur Tucker"
item:-  JandMN : 197.49
Image © see bottom of page
hearsay:-  
 This William Wordsworth's 'Solitary Abode' in The Excursion book 2:-
"And one bare dwelling; one abode, no more!
It seemed the home of poverty and toil,
Though not of want; the little fields made green
By husbandry of many thrifty years,
Paid cheerful tribute to the moorland house."
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