Acorn Bank, National Trust, Temple Sowerby

Turning off the A66 Temple Sowerby bypass and following the brown tourist signs on to the quieter back roads you approach the National Trust property known as Acorn Bank.

Driving towards the main red sandstone building of Acorn Bank  you get the feeling that this property once held status in this area.

Car parking is available in a small car park at the rear of the main building.

A visit to Acorn Bank can possibly be broken down to five parts.

• Part 1 – The two orchards
• Part 2 – The nationally renowned herb garden
• Part 3 – The Woodland walk towards
• Part 4 – The Acorn Bank water mill
• Part 5 – Tea room for homemade cakes and local produce.

Sadly the main building in not open to the general public, however you can enjoy the gardens, woodlands, tea-room and watermill.

Acorn Bank is the former Manor House and dates from the late sixteenth Century. It is named after the thick oak woodlands that surrounded the main house.

The manor was sold by the Crown to the Dalston family in 1544.  Sir Christopher Dalston was knighted by King James in 1615. He married Anne, the daughter of Sir William Hutton of Penrith.

The Estate changed it’s name in the early 1930’s and became Temple Sowerby Manor when it was occupied by poet and writer Dorothy Clough and her second husband Capt. Noel McGrigor Phillips.

Dorothy wrote and was more widely known under the name Dorothy Una Ratcliffe,  also know to her friends as DUR.  She was the niece in Law of Lord Brotherton and inherited part of his Estate upon his death.

Restoration of both the house and gardens was to become a key part of life for the couple.

Some of the internal woodwork repairs and commissions were undertaken by ‘The Mouseman of Kilburn,’ Robert Thompson.

Following the sudden death of Capt. Phillips, Dorothy handed the property to the National Trust in around 1950. It then reverted back to it’s original title of Acorn Bank

DUR spent many hours in the gardens and planted many shrubs, trees, bulbs and re-arranging the planting in general to create a changing garden throughout the seasons.

In early spring the woodlands and main drive come alive with bright yellow daffodils some of which are now classed as heritage varieties.

Apple blossom and riots of colour transform the Estate during the summer sunshine which gives way to a rich bounty of fruit at the start of winter.

Dorothy died in Scotland 20 November 1967.  She is buried nearby in Temple Sowerby Church.

Heritage

After purchasing your entrance tickets you emerge into one of the two apple orchards.

Acorn Bank features around 20 varieties of apple including many heritage varieties.

During October apples are the centre of attraction when Acorn Bank hosts an Apple Day.

Trees are distributed in the main walled garden and in a more open area beyond.

Mistletoe can be seen growing on some of the apple trees.

Apple trees are complemented by a magnificent Blakeney Red Perry Pear and Medlars in the main walled garden.

This variety of pear originates from the 17th Century and is still a popular pear for Perry making, a form of cider made from pears,  the skins were used after stewing to dye soldiers’ khaki uniforms.

Medicinal

Acorn Bank has become noted for the herb and medicinal plant garden which you can find to your right as you enter the gardens from the ticket office.

Reportedly holding the largest collection of medicinal and culinary in England, over 250 plant types, it also features a few Damson trees and a fine Portuguese quince.

Herbs have also been named after Acorn Bank.  These possibly include the Acorn Bank Oregano / Marjoram

The herb garden was replanted in 2002 – 3

Water Mill

A circular woodland walk runs along Crowdundle Beck to the partially restored Acorn Bank watermill, which is open to visitors.

Three 12ft waterwheels ensured that as much energy as possible could be harnesses from the beck that runs alongside the 19th Century Mill.

The top and middle wheels drove the corn milling equipment whilst the bottom one drove a saw bench.

At some point the middle wheel was adapted to provide power to a nearby gypsum mine.

Wooden cogs transferred the vertical rotation of the waterwheels outside to the horizontal rotation of up to four pairs of millstones inside the mill.

Only one wooden waterwheel has been restored and is used to power some demonstration milling equipment.

The middle part of the building, currently in need of renovation, was once a kiln.  Here oats were dried on a floor above a diffused fire pit before being milled.

Once the watermill has been visited a walk following the mill race is well worth the trouble.

Caution should be noted, that in the wet this path may be slippy.  It also has a steep zig zag path at the end so will not be suitable for wheelchairs. Child buggies should be ok.

Looking into the almost swamp like ponds in this part of the garden, made interesting by the fallen trees slowly decaying in the water, you can see many kinds of wildlife.

A number of bridges span parts of ‘the swamp’ and offer an ideal chance for children, under supervision, to go bug hunting or just to stand still and see what they can hear or see.  If you are lucky you may see a red squirrel or even a newt or two.  The ponds are home  to all three species of British newt.

Newts are also to be found in the sunken garden pond to the rear of the main buildings.

Dogs are allowed in this area but must be kept on a lead.  They are not permitted in the more formal garden areas.

The path returns you to the top orchard area where it is a simple walk, downhill to the main courtyard where you purchased your tickets.  It is also here that you will find the toilets and the tearoom.

Seating is available inside,  however on a sunny day tables and chairs are provided in the sheltered courtyard.

Contact details

Acorn Bank Garden and Watermill
Temple Sowerby, nr Penrith,
Cumbria CA10 1SP

Telephone: 017683 61893

Accommodation is available at Acorn Bank

Additional information

Notes on the Docker Family Of Westmorland

http://www.northofthesands.org.uk/westmoreland/pdf/dockernotes.pdf

Eden District Council appraisal of the area

All about the history of the area

Greta Bridge, Keswick

Carrying the busy A66 between the M6 and Keswick is what is possibly the largest concrete span bridge in Cumbria, the Greta Bridge.

Four lanes of thundering traffic pass over this bridge everyday, however many motorists are unaware of the valley below or what an achievement it was to build it.

The structure, is said to have been designed purely by engineers with no architectural input and is renowned for its aesthetic qualities which ensure it blends well with the surrounding Lake District countryside.

Opened in 1977 Greta Bridge spans the River Greta and is sandwiched between the edge of the town of Keswick and the fells including Latrigg.

Passing underneath the bridge is the National Cycle network route 71.

This path and the associated Keswick railway footpath uses the old track bed of the Keswick railway which closed in 1972.

Construction began on the bridge in 1974 and forms part of the Keswick Northern Bypass project.

With five spans the 220m long structure sits on very tall pillars spanning the valley below.

It was one of the longest bridges of it’s type at the time.

The bridge is said to be one of the first structures to be designed using finite element analysis.

Leading Expert

One of the major structural engineers involved in the bridge design and in particular the use of pre-stressed concrete in road building was Roy Rowe.

He devised mathematical formulae to work out stresses and loads on concrete structures and was to become one of the leading experts in the use of concrete as a building material in civil engineering.

Roy Rowe died of heart disease on December 18, 2008, aged 79.

Proud

Writing in the NCE (New Civil Engineer) Mr. Peter Donaldson who was the structures Agent for the main contractor Tarmac Construction, says that the building of Greta Bridge was not without difficulty.

Mr Donaldson writes “In plan, the bridge follows a reverse curve which requires a constantly changing carriageway crossfall from one abutment to the other. In turn, this varying crossfall geometry is repeated in the cross sectional alignment of the deck itself, resulting in webs which, although apparently vertical, are actually at right angles to the deck soffit and upper slab”.

Mr Donalson was writing to the letters section of the New Civil Engineer in response to the announcement that the Great Bridge had been nominated as Britain’s best civil engineering structure of the century (NCE 4 November 1999).

Mr Donaldson adds ”  I think I can speak for all of us involved in its construction when I say that we remain immensely proud of what we achieved”

Award winning

In 1977 the bridge was awarded a Highly Commendation by the Concrete Society.

Readers of Concrete magazine however voted it Best Civil Engineering Structure of the Century in 1999.

Beverley Hughes MP, Minister for the Environment, unveiled a plaque, which is positioned beneath the bridge.

The Plaque reads:- ‘GRETA BRIDGE Voted Best Concrete Engineering Structure Of The Century September 1999 / Consulting Engineer : Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners / Contractor : Tarmac Construction / Maintained by The Highways Agency.

Other links

The urban morphology of Keswick

Location details from Google Maps      54.605880, -3.114635 +54° 36′ 21.17″, -3° 6′ 52.69″ Link:

Carlisle ring inspires Tolkien

A Viking runic ring found in Carlisle, could have inspired the Lord of The Rings trilogy.

The gold ring known as The Kingmoor ring,  is a 10th – 12th century Viking finger ring, bearing a magical runic inscription to ward off fever and leprosy.

Found in June 1817 at Greymoor Hill, Kingmoor, Carlisle.  The ring now resides in the British Museum with a 19th Century copy on display in the Border Galleries at Carlisle’s Tullie House Museum.

The area where the ring was found is now known as the Kingmoor Nature Reserve.

Another similar ring, known as the Bramham Moor ring from Yorkshire, is also part of the collection on display in London.

Epic creation
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of Lord of The Rings was a philologist and university professor of Anglo-Saxon history at Oxford.

His undoubted involvement with archaeological discoveries and knowledge of runic rings and amulets, has most likely played a large part in his epic creation, that has become one of the most popular and influential works in 20th Century literature.

The Lord of The Rings story began as a sequel to Tolkien’s earlier,  fantasy novel The Hobbit, published in 1973. It soon developed into a much larger work, written in stages between 1937 and 1949, during World War II.

The story hinges around the rings of Power which were crafted by the Elven-smiths but Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring in Mordor, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others.

My Precious
Sauron loses the ring in battle to Isildur, who cuts off the ring and claims it for himself.

When Isildur is later killed by Orcs, the Ring is lost in the river Anduin, only to be found over 2000 years later by Gollum who murderously obtains the Ring whilst fishing in the river.

Gollum keeps the Ring ( his precious ) for nearly 500 years before losing it, whereupon the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins finds it.

On his eleventy-first birthday, Bilbo disappeared, bequeathing to his young nephew, Frodo, the One Ring.

When Bilbo discovers the history of the ring from Gandalf, he is faced with a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-Earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord and destroy the ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom in Mordor, where it was forged.

Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery - Where a 19th Century replica of the ring resides.

Article”Magic Ring of Kingmoor“, written by Keeper of Archaeology, Mr. Tim Padley.

The British Museum - Where the original Kingmoor ring is on display.

The Tolkien Society – Encouraging further interest in the life and works of the late Professor J.R.R. Tolkien  C.B.E.

Omniglot – Discover more about ancient runic writing.