Picture of the month

Comment:

Taken from the Cartmel peninsula at low tide, this view looks across the sands of the Leven estuary to the adjoining Furness peninsula close to the point where both merge with the mainland and close to the confluence of the River Crake with the estuary of the River Leven. These two rivers, together with two others, the Kent to the east and the Duddon to the west, play a significant role in draining the southern half of the English Lake District. The River Crake flows from Coniston Water and the River Leven flows from Windermere, the latter having received the outflows from several other of the Lake District's beautiful lakes. Just visible on the right of the photograph, seen through the backlit haze of a winter's afternoon, is Hoad Hill on the top of which is the 33.5 metre tall Sir John Barrow memorial. This monument, which takes the style of the third Eddystone lighthouse, known as Smeaton's Tower, commemorates Sir John's birth in Ulverston in 1764 and, in particular, his distinguished career which included being a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society and becoming at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, Second Secretary to the Admiralty. The small, simple cottage where Sir John was born is conserved as a Grade II listed building at Dragley Beck on the outskirts of Ulverston, a small market town situated at the foot of Hoad Hill.