In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Buttermere like this:
BUTTERMERE, a village, a township-chapelry, and a lake, in Brigham parish, Cumberland. The village stands about midway between Buttermere lake and Crummock water, 8½ miles SW of Keswick r. station, and 10 SSE of Cockermouth; and consists of only a church two inns, and a few scattered houses. ...
The church is new and neat, on the site of a previous one which was said to be the smallest in England; and one of the inns supplies boats for the neighbouring lakes, and is notable for the pathetic story of "Mary of Buttermere." The chapelry includes the village; and its Post Town is Loweswater, under Cockermouth. Acres, 4,398. Real property, £1,129. Pop., 101. Houses, 18. The property is divided among a few. Hassness, the seat of General Benson, is on the NE side of the lake. The general surface is a grand vale, engirt with mountains, and much occupied with the lakes. A steep mountainpass, called Buttermere-Haws, goes from the village, to an elevation of about 1,600 feet, on the road to Keswick. Blue slate is quarried. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £56. Patron, the Earl of Lonsdale. The lake extends from the head of the vale to within a mile of Crummock water; is 1¼ mile long, ¾ of a mile broad, and 90 feet deep; and has a surface elevation of 247 feet above the level of the sea. Its face looks gloomy; but its skirts are magnificent, being immediately overhung by Honister Crag, with a precipitous front, about 1,500 feet high, and by the Hay-Stacks, High-Crag, High-Stile, Red-Pike, Buttermere-Moss, and Great-Robinson mountains.
Buttermere through time
Buttermere is now part of Allerdale district. Click here for graphs and data of how Allerdale has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Buttermere itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Buttermere, in Allerdale and Cumberland | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/3361
Date accessed: 24th April 2024
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