Local People
[ Abraham Brothers
] [ Armitt Sisters
] [ Arnolds ] [
Herbert Bell ] [
J W Brunskill ] [
Collingwood Family
] [ W E Forster ] [
William Green ] [
Alfred Heaton Cooper
] [ John Kelsick ] [
Harriet Martineau
] [ Charlotte Mason
]
[ Beatrix Potter ]
[ William Payne ] [
J B Pyne ] [
Canon Rawnsley ] [
The Romans ] [
John Ruskin ] [
Kurt Schwitters ]
[ Josefina de
Vasconcellos ] [
Charles Walmsley ] [
Fred Yates ]
By the late 18th century the landscape of the Lake District had assumed an almost mythic quality as a place of solitude, peace and fabled beauty. Writers, artists, scholars, naturalists and sportsmen were drawn to the area to live and work, then, following fashion, the tourists arrived.
The Lake District attracted and held some remarkable talents: William Wordsworth, Thomas de Quincey, Robert Southey, John Ruskin, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Beatrix Potter, all of whom are now household names. But there were others, less well-known now, but who made a profound impact in their day: the economist Harriet Martineau, the leading pioneer of education Charlotte Mason, the gifted Arnolds, the historian G.M. Trevelyan, the politician W.E. Forster, Canon Rawnsley (co-founder of the National Trust) and the learned Armitt sisters after one of whom, Mary Louisa Armitt, Ambleside's Gallery, Museum and Library is named.
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An astounding array of artists has produced work inspired by the natural landscape and people of the Lake District, notably: T L Aspland, Ophelia Bell, the Collingwood family, Alfred Heaton Cooper, William Heaton Cooper, Julian Heaton Cooper, William Green, Beatrix Potter, William Payne, JB Pyne, Kurt Schwitters, J W M Turner, Josefina de Vasconcellos, James Walton and Fred Yates.
This community of letters also drew many distinguished visitors to the Lakes, amongst them: John Bright, Charlotte Brontё, Thomas Carlyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Elizabeth Gaskell, and the American President Woodrow Wilson.
The beauty of the area was captured by many of the earliest photographers, notably: the Abraham brothers, William Baldry, Herbert Bell, J.W. Brunskill, the Herberts, William Lawrie, Henry Mayson, Alfred Pettitt, Edward Sankey, Sam Thompson and Charles Walmsley.
Many of these people are commemorated here in Ambleside's Museum and Armitt Library, a living memorial to the lives and labours of this remarkable community.
"From Wansfell you look down upon the
richly watered garden of the land ... a glorious region of which I have only
seen the similitude in dreams, waking or sleeping."
Charlotte
Brontё
[ Abraham Brothers
] [ Armitt Sisters
] [ Arnolds ] [
Herbert Bell ] [
J W Brunskill ] [
Collingwood Family
] [ W E Forster ] [
William Green ] [
Alfred Heaton Cooper
] [ John Kelsick ] [
Harriet Martineau
] [ Charlotte Mason
]
[ Beatrix Potter ]
[ William Payne ] [
J B Pyne ] [
Canon Rawnsley ] [
The Romans ] [
John Ruskin ] [
Kurt Schwitters ]
[ Josefina de
Vasconcellos ] [
Charles Walmsley ] [
Fred Yates ]