Louise and Pat M had a short holiday in Patterdale where this photo was taken. Pat writes:
“It was on a walk from Patterdale along Ullswater that Dorothy and William Wordsworth saw the daffodils which inspired the poem. We also went to the Beatrix Potter Museum - what a Lady - she owned 14 farms and founded the Herdwicke Sheep Society and insisted all her Tenant farmers bred them. She is largely responsible for farming being in such good shape up there today. Patterdale is situated at the Southern tip of Ullswater and has Helvelyn to the West .We do not mind admitting our ignorance that we did not know the connection between Patterdale and St Patrick. Historically early in the 5th Century he landed at Duddon Sands and walked the 30 miles to the Valley that is now called Patterdale converting many to Christianity. There has been a St Patricks Well and Chapel there since very early days. This knowledge added another dimension to our holiday and we raised our glass to him every evening.”
Our thanks to both of you, for letting us share your memories.
1 comment:
Thanks for such an interesting post: St Patrick seems to have perhaps unexpectedly strong links with Cumbria. Farther north in the county, there's another sacred well dedicated to him at Aspatria: literally "Patrick's Ash". Legend has it that as he was such a forceful evangelist, he would thump the ground with his ash-wood walking staff to drive his sermons home. On one occasion, the message took so long to get through that the stick took root and started to leaf - hence the place-name!
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