Grasmere is a village four miles north-west of Ambleside, past a lake one mile long and 3/8th of a mile wide, complete with its own small island. Living in a great natural bowl between the green craggy mountains, few villages in England enjoy a more dramatic setting than Grasmere. Rough slate cottages, an ancient church and the nearby lake have the intense beauty of a romantic painting, and many artists and poets have been inspired by this spectacular landscape.
The church of St Oswald is dedicated to the Northumbrian King of the same name who was killed at the battle of Massenfield in AD42 and it stands upon the bank of the Rothay river. Its foundation date is uncertain, but a church is believed to have stood on the site since Saxon times. St Oswald's Well is nearby, though today it is covered over and needs searching for. However, at one time the church would have used its water for christening. The tower walls are some three to four feet thick and beneath is an ancient font, which is thought to have come from Furness Abbey.
Some of the yew trees in the churchyard were planted by Wordsworth. Near one is his grave with the simple inscription 'William Wordsworth 1850,' together with 'Mary Wordsworth 1859'. Other graves of this famous family are their daughter Dora, and the poet's sister Dorothy.
Obviously, William Wordsworth was Grasmere's most famous resident. He arrived here on the 20th December 1799, where he took up residence at Town End - The Dove and Olive Bough Inn as it was then known (today perhaps better known as 'Dove Cottage'). In 1802, Wordsworth married Mary Hutchinson and they lived at Dove Cottage until 1808. Today, the rooms are furnished almost exactly as when the poet lived there. The parlour has a stone floor and much old woodwork, and on the same floor is Dorothy's bedroom. The staircase brings visitors to the parlour with its three chairs covered by Dora Wordsworth, Edith Southey, and Sarah Coleridge.
It was here that Wordsworth wrote 'Michael', 'Resolution and Independence', 'Ode', 'Intimations of Immortality', together with completing 'The Prelude' (in 1805). When the cottage became too small for his growing family, he moved to Rydal where he lived until his death in 1850. Visitors to the cottage are offered guided tours.
Amongst Grasmere's many festivals and events, the longest surviving one has to be the Annual Rushbearing Ceremony, which takes place every year on the Sunday nearest to St Oswald's Day (5th August). It is a relic of the old days when the church floors were strewn with rushes for warmth and cleanliness.
Grasmere Sports are held on the 3rd Thursday in August and the event remains as one of the most important fixtures in the Lakeland sporting calendar. Included is wrestling, pole vaulting, sprinting, hound trailing and, the event of the day, the race to the summit of Butter crag and back.
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