Old Cumbria Gazetteer - Crabtree Beck

Crabtree Beck

runs into:-

Loweswater lake

civil parish:-

Loweswater (formerly Cumberland)

county:-

Cumbria

locality type:-

river

locality type:-

flood

1Km square:-

NY1322 (etc)

10Km square:-

NY12

BQD31.jpg Running behind Crabtreebeck house.
(taken 17.2.2009)

evidence:-

old map:- OS County Series (Cmd 62 12)
placename:- Crabtree Beck

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:- Crosthwaite 1783-94 (But/Cru/Low)

source data:-

Map, uncoloured engraving, An Accurate Map of Buttermere, Crummock and Loweswater Lakes, scale about 3 inches to 1 mile, by Peter Crosthwaite, Keswick, Cumberland, 1794, version published 1800.

hearsay:-

There was a dam across the beck to supply water to a lead mine in Kirkhill Wood. Edward Bogg, in 1902, told of a dam burst:-

"Many years ago a small reservoir, or tarn, on the hill above the lake [Loweswater], burst, and came rolling in one huge wave towards the lake; a farm stood in its path, and one of the occupants, a girl who was outside the house, saw the dark mass of water sweeping downwards. Darting into the house, she informed the inmates (the master and a female) of the occurrence. These two had just reached the outside of the door in their endeavour to escape, when the wave caught them both, swept them into the lake, and their bodies were never discovered, while strange to say, the girl, who was first to discover the inundation, was saved by the water forcibly banging the door in her face and holding her prisoner, when she was in the act of following the other persons."

It is not clear that the right beck and house are identified.

places:-

NY13372284 Beckhead Moss (Loweswater)

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