Coordinates: 54°29′48″N 3°11′00″W / 54.4968°N 3.1834°W / 54.4968; -3.1834

Seathwaite
Stockley Bridge
Seathwaite  Seathwaite shown within Cumbria
Parish	Borrowdale
District	Allerdale
Shire county	Cumbria
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Police	Cumbria
Fire	Cumbria
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Workington Copeland (after 2009/10)
List of places: UK • England • Cumbria

Seathwaite is a hamlet in the Borrowdale valley in the Lake District of Cumbria, North West England. It is located 13 kilometres (8 mi) southwest of Keswick at the end of a minor road that heads south from the portion of the B5289 road that runs between Borrowdale civil parish and Seatoller over the Honister Pass.^[1] The nearby Seathwaite Fell takes its name from the hamlet and lies about 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) to the south–southwest of it. The name derives from a combination of the Old Norse words sef (sedges) and thveit (clearing) and may be taken to mean "Sedges clearing". ^[2] The name, then spelled Seuthwayt, first appeared in written records dating from 1340. ^[3]

Along the nearby Newhouse Gill that descends from Grey Knotts is a graphite mine^[4][5] that was started after the discovery of graphite there in 1555.^[6] The extracted graphite was eventually used to supply the Derwent Cumberland Pencil Company factory in Keswick. The commercial mining of the unusual solid form of graphite found near Seathwaite hamlet was stopped by about 1891 when veins of the solid graphite became harder to find.^[7] Also, around that time the Keswick pencil factories had switched to making pencil pigments out of the familiar combination of clay powder and graphite powder. Graphite powder could be mined and imported from elsewhere.^[7] The mine entrance is north–northwest of the hamlet at 54°30′18.01″N 3°11′13.01″W / 54.5050028°N 3.1869472°W / 54.5050028; -3.1869472.^[4][5]

Seathwaite is the wettest inhabited place in England and receives around 3,552 millimetres (140 in) of rain per year.^[1][8] In September 1966, five inches of rain fell on Seathwaite and the surrounding fells in an hour, the resulting flood severely damaging the nearby Stockley Bridge, which lies 1200 metres south of the hamlet. Stockley Bridge is an ancient packhorse bridge which lies on the old route between Borrowdale and the Cumbrian coast. The bridge was widened in 1887 and had to be repaired after the 1966 storm.^[9] On 19-20 November 2009 Seathwaite received 314.4 millimetres (12.38 in) of rain in a 24 hour period, a major contributer to the 2009 Cumbria and southwest Scotland floods. If confirmed this is a record for the amount of rain falling in any UK place within 24 hours.^[10][11]

For many years Seathwaite was a secluded spot being connected to the main road at Seatoller by a rough track. However the emergence of fellwalking as an outdoor activity at the end of the 19th century led to the hamlet becoming a popular starting point for walkers bound for the surrounding mountains. The road was eventually surfaced which led to motorists parking their cars along the verges on the approach to the farm. Seathwaite has become one of the most popular starting points for walking in the UK giving access to well known mountains such as Scafell Pike, Great Gable and Glaramara. Famed Lakeland walker Alfred Wainwright made this comment:

[edit] See also

• Cumbrian placename etymology

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ ^{a b} The nearby uninhabited Sty Head Tarn receives 4,369 millimetres (172 in) of rain per year. Ann Bowker. "Seathwaite (Borrowdale) Cumbria the Lake District.". http://www.thecumbriadirectory.com/Town_or_Village/Seathwaite_(Borrowdale)/Seathwaite_(Borrowdale).php. Retrieved 2008-05-24. 
2. ^ Stuart Rae (cites book by Robert Gambles). "Lake District Walks and Photos". http://web.ukonline.co.uk/sw.rae/. Retrieved 2008-05-30. 
3. ^ Gambles, Robert (1985). Lake District Place-names (2 ed.). Yorkshire: Dalesman. pp. 64. ISBN 085206814X. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Martin and Jean Norgate, Geography Department, Portsmouth University (2008). "Old Cumbria Gazetteer, black lead mine, Seathwaite". http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/lgaz/lk00976.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-19. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Alfred Wainwright (2005). A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Western Fells. ISBN 0-7112-2460-9. 
6. ^ Ann Bowker, Julian Thurgood, and Dave Newton. "Borrowdale Cumbria and the Lake District.". http://www.thecumbriadirectory.com/Cumbria_Countryside/Dales/Borrowdale/Borrowdale.php. Retrieved 2008-05-24. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Industries of Cumbria - Wad". http://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/wad.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-24. 
8. ^ "Lake District National Park Authority - Facts and figures". http://www.lake-district.gov.uk/index/understanding/facts_and_figures.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-24. 
9. ^ www.waymarking.com Gives details of Stockley Bridge.
10. ^ Met Office (20 November 2009). "Recent heavy rain over north-west Britain". News Archive. Met Office. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2009/pr20091120.html. Retrieved 21 November 2009. 
11. ^ Environment Agency (20 November 2009). "Environment chiefs visit flood-hit Cumbria". News, November 2009. Environment Agency. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/113477.aspx?. Retrieved 21 November 2009. 
12. ^ "Wainwright in the Valleys of Lakeland", Alfred Wainwright, ISBN 0 7181 3481 8 Page 192 Gives information on fellwalking and quote from Wainwright.