Windermere or what's in a name?

This photograph of Windermere dates from March 2002. A version is posted on my Out & About website.

I had labelled it: Lake Windermere: View towards Helvellyn. A few days ago I had an email pointing out that the word Lake in the title is redundant. This body of water is simply Winder-mere. Mere is just another term for a lake.

I agree and have re-labelled the photograph.

In a follow-up email, however, my correspondent added

I think that 'the media' is largely responsible for the misuse, and also for its acceptance among the general public, few of whom care much about the language anyway.
Regardless of the reason for it happening, or for its acceptance, the fact remains that it betrays a lack of understanding of the english language ... sad then that so many perpetrators actually make their living from use of that language.

I thought I'd do a bit of investigation and the name Lake Windermere does seem to crop up on the websites of various local businesses and others whom you might have thought would have known better.

Even Windermere Lake Cruises on whose boat we sailed, uses the term at one stage.

One site that avoids the pitfall and has some stunning pictures is the Visit Cumbria site.

Windermere, the town, was originally known as Birthwaite, but when the railway arrived in 1847, the station was named Windermere and the town developed quickly around the station, with hotels, boarding houses and shops eventually spreading down the hill to merge with Bowness.

One might well question why the National Park was called the Lake District when there is only one lake (Bassenthwaite Lake) while the rest are meres, tarns or waters.

The Wikipedia List of tautological place-names not only includes Lake Windermere but also Wastwater, being a combination of the Old Norse "vatn" and the Old English "wæter", meaning waterwater.

Fairlie 1967

I posted this picture of Fairlie, Ayrshire on my website a few years ago. That page recalls how I original thought the photograph was of Brodick on Arran and how I traced the actual locality of the scene. It includes a recent (2004) picture by someone from North Ayrshire Council.

I've had a number of reponses since from people who were once connected with the area.

The latest was from Gail Kennedy who wrote

I lived with my grandparents at 8 Allanton Park Terrace, Fairlie from 3-18yrs. My house was the first of the tenament buildings (nearest the pier quay side) you can see in your 1967 photo. My grandfather worked in the famous shipyard you refer to, the sheds which can be seen in the photo and I went to Sunday school in St Pauls church. It has a Fife yacht on its spire. I have a pencil drawing I did at 14yrs of the view from my grandparents' window and it shows the shipyard sheds in quite detail - like a zoom in of your photo. I used to walk most nights with my grandfather down Fairlie pier where the steamer The Glen Sannox made daily trips to Arran. I have memories of colourful hippies coming off the boat after the infamous rock festivals held on Arran in the 60s and I also recall one night when some cows which were being herded off the boat, fell off the pier into the water - I think a couple drowned. Fairlie also used to have a kipper smokehouse. I last visited about 10 years ago and it has changed a lot. The shipyard no longer exists sadly but there was a brilliant documentary on TV about the beautiful Fife yachts and there is also now a company in England called Fairlie Restorations which restores the yachts to their former glory. It was wonderful to see the 1967 photo especially as, apart from my own drawing, I don't have any. It was especially meaningful because it actually shows the house I lived in and the chalet next door, which my grandparents kept an eye on for the summer visitors who owned it. An enormous dead basking shark was once washed up in the bay in front of the house at Fairlie. I still remember the smell and watching the 2 enormous trucks they needed to remove the carcass. Fairlie will always have such a special place in my heart - thank you for bringing it to life again.

Happy Birthday, Christine

Today is Christine's birthday. We celebrated it yesterday. Our local taxi-driver Rolly picked us up in his mini-bus. He'd taken out a row of seats so Christine's wheelchair fitted towards the front. We picked up our sons, Craig and Ian from their respective homes and went over to Chester. There we collected our good friend Maureen and went for a lovely lunch at the Grove Bistro down by the river.



After lunch we had a sail on the Lady Diana Showboat. The boat has a ramp which enables easy wheelchair access. Although cold, the sun came out and the trip down the Dee was very pleasant.