Stepping back in time

Watery Lonning, Blindcrake, Cumbria

THE nice thing about researching Cumbrian lonnings (a dialect term for green lanes or footpaths) is that you keep coming across 'new' ones. My map lists all those I have found so far but please let me know of any I have missed out. (I know any 'footpath' is in essence a lonning but I'm only listing those that have been referred to or named as a 'lonning'). At the weekend I picked up a copy of "A History & Survey of Blindcrake, Isel and Redmain" by Horace E Winter. A wonderfully detailed survey of these villages near Cockermouth - and one printed so long ago (1987)  that it was done on a Gestetner printer. It made mention of Watery Lonning at Blindcrake (and Back Lonning) so on Sunday afternoon we headed out to find it. The lonning is delightful but certainly lives up to its name. You'll need boots or Wellingtons if you're going to go down this at the moment. Is this why Watery Lonnings (there are two or three) got their name? It seems to a be a deliberate run-off from the fields above it - probably saving the village from flooding. The village itself is rather nice but I have to admit it has been blighted by a plague of wooden outbuildings and garden sheds. The historic homes are perfectly set around an ancient village green but in almost every garden is some hideous 'office' or conservatory totally out of keeping with the rest of the property and village. Anyway, rant over and back to the lonning. 

It's a lane with a decent stone floor but is currently swimming in mud and water. It struck me as a very English lonning. It's full of bushes, shrubs, trees and remnants of stone walls. It's also crammed full with birds. There are sparrows, chaffinches, blue tits and so much more everywhere you look. Then, we heard what I thought at first was a tractor - a sort of metallic sound - from the adjacent fields. It turned out to be several hundred fieldfare (but I'm no ornithologist so they may have been thrushes!). The 'swarm' was astonishing to watch as it rose from the fields and took off over our heads into the trees. The fields themselves are some of the best examples of ridge and furrow strip fields - a rare remnant of the middle ages. The lonning itself is probably a third of a mile long and a joy to walk down. Stand still every now and again to observe the birds. The end did have a partial gate across it though I'm not sure why. Perhaps people had been driving cars down it as a 'cut through' or sheep had been wandering out of the lane. But as that last stretch looked particularly wet and muddy we stopped there anyway and turned back. The lonning leads to 'Back Lane' which is a narrow country lane taking you back to the A595. The other lonning in the village is Back Lonning which is beside Thorneycroft house at the south of the village. It seems to be a private driveway. This is one lonning I'll be returning to over and over again - just so peaceful (except for all the fieldfare!). If you want to visit Watery Lonning the grid references are NY147 347 to NY142 346.