Aira Force
Encyclopedia
Waterfall
A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
, in the county of Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
. The word force is used in many parts of northern England as a synonym for waterfall it comes from the Old Norse language old Norse word fors.
The stream which flows over the waterfall is Aira Beck, which rises on the upper slopes of Stybarrow Dodd
Stybarrow Dodd
Stybarrow Dodd is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands on the main spine of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells, situated between Thirlmere and the Ullswater catchment.-Topography:...
at a height of 720 metres (2,362 ft) and flows north-easterly before turning south, blocked by the high heather-covered slopes of Gowbarrow Fell
Gowbarrow Fell
Gowbarrow Fell is a fell in the English Lake District. It is an outlier of the Eastern Fells, standing to the north of Ullswater and above the famous Aira Force waterfall.-Topography:...
. It turns south on its eight-kilometre journey to join Ullswater
Ullswater
Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being approximately nine miles long and 0.75 miles wide with a maximum depth of slightly more than ....
, at a height of 150 metres (492 ft). One kilometre before entering the lake, the beck makes the 20 metres (66 ft) leap down a rocky ravine at the falls known as Aira Force.
Aira Force lies on land owned by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
. The Trust has provided facilities, such as car parking, disabled access, graded paths, and viewing platforms to make Aira Force one of the most famous and most visited waterfalls in the Lake District. A small arched bridge spans the stream just as the beck goes over the falls giving a spectacular view from the top as the water makes its magnificent leap.
The Lake Poet William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
paid many visits to the area around Aira Force; he was probably inspired to write his poem "Daffodils" with the opening line, "I wandered lonely as a cloud" as he observed daffodils growing on the shore of Ullswater near where Aira Beck enters the lake near Glencoyne Bay. The falls themselves are mentioned in three Wordsworth poems, with the most famous reference being in "The Somnambulist", where in the final verse he writes:
Beside the walk that passes up the glen is located a good example of a Wish Tree
Wish Tree
A wish tree is an individual tree, usually distinguished by species, position or appearance, which is used as an object of wishes and offerings. Such trees are identified as possessing a special religious or spiritual value...
, in this case using a large fallen tree trunk. Visitors hammer coins into it using stones from the site.