NETHER WASDALE, Cumberland - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"NETHER WASDALE, (or Wasdale Nether), (or Strands), a chapelry in the parish of St. Bees, ward of Allerdale-above-Derwent, county Cumberland, 7 miles from Ravenglass, 4 E. of Gosforth, and 7 from the Drigg station, on the Whitehaven and Furness Junction line of railway. The village is situated amongst the hills, near the sources of the rivers Irt and Esk, under the Cinderdale Falls. The surface is hilly, and the land principally unenclosed pasture and waste, with a small proportion of arable and woodland. The lake Wast Water, situated about 1½ mile from the village, is 3 miles long, half a mile broad, and 45 fathoms deep, or about 15 fathoms below the level of the sea. It abounds with fish, and has never been known to freeze. The living is a perpetual curacy.* in the diocese of Carlisle, value £66, in the patronage of the Incumbent of St. Bees. The church contains tablets of the Rawson family, and a stone font presented in 1855 by Mrs. Rawson. There is a parochial school, in which a Sunday-school is also held. Gale Syke and the Hall are the principal residences. The latter has rare coniferæ, pines, &c.; among them is a specimen of the Araucarie imbricata 20 feet in height. General Wyndham is lord of the manor." "STRANDS, a hamlet in Wast Dale, county Cumberland, 7 miles N.E. of Ravenglass. It is situated among the hills at the river Irt's head, near the bottom of the lake called Wast Water."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]