Fell Foot
Fell Foot Park
Fell Foot Park is located in the former South Lakeland district
Fell Foot Park
Fell Foot Park
Location in South Lakeland
Fell Foot Park is located in Cumbria
Fell Foot Park
Fell Foot Park
Location in Cumbria
LocationCumbria, England
Coordinates54°16′30″N 2°57′08″W / 54.2751°N 2.9523°W / 54.2751; -2.9523
Operated byNational Trust

Fell Foot Park is a country park situated at the southern end of Windermere in Cumbria, the largest lake in England. It is north of Newby Bridge in the civil parish of Staveley-in-Cartmel, in South Lakeland district.

Formerly the grounds of a Victorian estate, it is now owned by the National Trust.

History

The land was originally a farm until it was bought by Jeremiah Dixon, mayor of Leeds, in 1784; he began to turn it into something more befitting of a country gentleman, replacing the farmhouse with a villa and moving the local highway (now the A592) away from the edge of the lake to a new route outside of the grounds.[1]

Dixon sold the estate in 1814 to Francis Dukinfield Astley, a wealthy industrialist and poet from Cheshire who was an expert on forestry—he continued to develop Fell Foot into something more "picturesque," with long carriage driveways, boathouses, woodland trails, and "carefully designed views."[2]

Astley's son and heir, Francis Dukinfield Palmer Astley, made the estate his primary residence until 1859, when he sold it to Colonel G. J. M. Ridehalgh—a director of the North Lonsdale Iron and Steel Company, colonel of the 2nd Westmorland Volunteer Battalion Border Regiment, and one of the founder members of the Royal Windermere Yacht Club.[3] Ridehalgh continued the improvements made by the Astleys, planting an arboretum and replacing the modest lakeside facilities with a "small harbour" consisting of three new piers and five new faux-medieval boathouses.[1]

Lithograph, c.1870, showing Fell Foot estate with the villa constructed by Dixon

Ridehalgh died in 1892, and in 1908 his heirs sold the estate to Oswald Hedley—a great-grandson of William Hedley, and a director in the family's substantial coal business.[4] Hedley tore down the villa to build a larger, neo-Jacobean replacement as a gift for his first wife, Marguerite—however, she died suddenly of peritonitis in 1909 and the project was cancelled, with only the cellars for the new house having been built.[1][4] Hedley abandoned the estate, and it remained unused until his third wife, Edith, donated it to the National Trust in 1948 after his death.[5][6]

Current park

The manager's house (originally a gas works which provided lighting for the estate), the boathouses (including one converted to a cafe), a workshop, and the dock are all Grade II listed buildings.[5][7][8][9]

A local sailing and rowing club is located at the park, and rowing boat and kayak hire is available during summer months. Other facilities include car parking, toilets, a gift shop and a playground.[10]

The distinctively crenellated stone-built boathouses

Between March and September, Windermere Lake Cruises operate a passenger ferry service from Lakeside station to Fell Foot. At Lakeside, connection can be made to the same company's steamer service to Bowness-on-Windermere and the preserved Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway.[11]

The park's buildings were flooded during the 2015–16 Great Britain and Ireland floods.[12]

A new watersports centre opened at the north end of the park in 2018.[13] The park holds regular events, including a parkrun event every Saturday[14] and the All England Open Stone Skimming Championships every August.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Fell Foot Park, Lake Windermere | History & Photos". Britain Express. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "Lord Mayors & Aldermen of Leeds since 1626" (PDF). Leeds City Council. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  3. ↑ "George John Miller Ridehalgh". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Oswald Hedley (1884-1945)". Cumbrian Lives - Towards a Dictionary of Cumbrian Biography. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  5. 1 2 Historic England. "Manager's House, Fell Foot Park (1225513)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  6. ↑ "Fell Foot Park". About Britain. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  7. ↑ Historic England. "Southern boathouse at Fell Foot Park (1225561)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  8. ↑ Historic England. "Northern boathouse at Fell Foot Park (1266317)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Historic England. "Cafetria, Information centre and adjoining boathouse at Fell Foot Park (1225511)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  10. ↑ "Fell Foot | Lake District". National Trust. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  11. ↑ "Fell Foot Ferry". Windermere Lake Cruises. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  12. ↑ "Flooding at Fell Foot". National Trust. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  13. ↑ "Walney's world sailing champion Steve Goacher opens Fell Foot Active Base". The Mail. 25 June 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  14. ↑ "Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge". Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  15. ↑ "Stone-skimming champion beats own record on Windermere". BBC News. 18 August 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2019.

Further reading

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