Pooley Bridge is situated at the foot of Ullswater and is combined with the parishes of Barton and Martindale. The village itself consists of not a lot more than greystone houses, two hotels and a few shops.
The River Eamont flows out of the lake and runs through farmland to Eamont Bridge, eventually reaching the River Eden. An attractive 16th century bridge crosses the river and leads to the main part of the village.
Opposite to the church is a row of very old houses one of which was a blacksmith's, and there are traces of a stand for the grindstone and a well for the cooling of irons. To the south is Eusemere, once the home of the anti-slave campaigner Thomas Clarkson. Mrs Clarkson was one Dorothy Wordsworth's closest friends, and the poet and his wife used the house as the starting off point for many of their Lakeland excursions.
On the northern side of the river is the hill Dunmallet..a name which means 'hill of slaughter'...though nobody seems to know why. On the summit is an iron age fort...which might possibly give food for thought however. At the lakeside is the site of Tristamont, thought to have been the home of Sir Tristram, one of King Arthur's Knights.
Scattered about the moor will be seen many prehistoric cairns.
The bridge, erected in 1764 and replacing an earlier bridge from the 16th century, collapsed on 6 December 2015 when Cumbria was hit by heavy flooding as a result of Storm Desmond. A temporary replacement bridge was opened on 20 March 2016.
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