Impressions of Ravenglass

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Saunterings: Walking in North-West England

Saunterings is a set of reflections based upon walks around the counties of Cumbria, Lancashire and North Yorkshire in North-West England (as defined in the Preamble). Here is a list of all Saunterings so far.
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226. Impressions of Ravenglass

Ravenglass is the largest port in the Lake District National Park – because it is the only port in the National Park – because the National Park border reaches the coast for only a short stretch around the Esk estuary, upon which Ravenglass sits.

Actually Ravenglass is not much of a port nowadays. It had much greater importance in Roman times when a fort (previously thought to be called Glannoventa but now thought more likely to be Itunocelum) was built here in 79 AD to protect the western shores and to service garrisons based at the forts along their road to Hardknott and Ambleside. After the Romans left, Ravenglass must have remained an important centre for it to be awarded a market charter in 1208. For centuries Ravenglass presumably had a modest import trade (some of it illicit, Ravenglass being such a sheltered spot) and for a period in the 19th century it exported iron ore quarried from Eskdale. However, the last shipment of iron ore from the rapidly silting harbour was in the 1880s.

Approaching Ravenglass from the south

Approaching Ravenglass (to the left) from the north, with Black Combe beyond

Since then Ravenglass has shed its portliness. It has slimmed down to a handful of pleasure craft settled upon the mud. Their only motion (in the seven days we were there) is vertical, as they rise and fall with the tides. There are no harbour facilities and none of the rusty old fishing gear that normally adorns seaside villages, and no rusty old fishermen either.

The inactive estuary is still a charming, peaceful scene, as the sun glistens upon the wide areas of mud and shallow water and casts an orange glow at sunset. It is in fact three estuaries for the price of one, since the rivers Irt (from Wasdale), Mite (from Miterdale) and Esk (from Eskdale) all enter the Irish Sea here. No-nonsense, monosyllabic Cumbrian names there! To the south lie the Eskmeal Dunes (which we visited in [142]) and across the bay is the Drigg Dunes bird sanctuary, beyond which can be seen (on a reasonable day) the Isle of Man. We didn’t see or hear many birds taking advantage of their sanctuary. An odd curlew, oystercatcher or heron might be seen poking about at the water’s edge.

The Main Street of Ravenglass consists of two more-or-less terraces of cottages of varied vintage facing each other in a bow shape. Is this the only Main Street in the country that comes to an abrupt end at a rocky shore? Or that has a tidal barrier? At least, we are ensured that there is no through traffic. The terraced houses all face inward, even the ones on the estuary side. If I owned such a house then I think I would want to sit and watch the tides every day – but here I would have to do so from an upstairs window because all the back gardens are protected by somewhat unsightly high walls to prevent erosion from westerly gales and high tides. Almost all the houses have names, with only four that I noticed with numbers – and those in an irrational order to keep the postpeople on their toes. The post office shop has seen better days (I hope) but they must have been at least two decades ago. Inland of Main Street is a 1980s housing estate and a small camp-site, with some grander houses on the road down from the A595. Unlike most old villages, Ravenglass does not have a church as its core building, the nearest church being over a mile away.

Left: Main Street, Ravenglass; Right: Remains of the Roman bath house.

The England Coast Path runs along this Main Street and continues south along the edge of a stony, muddy shore. After half a mile it’s possible to leave this path to walk to the remains of a Roman bath house (called Walls Castle). It is strange that so much of the bath house still stands when all sign of the rest of the large fort has disappeared. Some of it has been eroded by the sea and today a railway line runs across it so that an amateur, like myself, would never see anything Roman fort-like here. It is thought that the bath house was used as a house in medieval times, which would have helped preserve it. Presumably experts can tell what of the present remains is original Roman. Today the site looks too smart for my liking: I prefer ruins to be ruins.

The path north from the bath house leads to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, for which Ravenglass is best known today. But that is for another day (tomorrow, in fact).

Sunset at the Ravenglass estuary

    Date: July 6th - 12th 2025
    Start: SD0896, Ravenglass  (Map: OL6)
    Routes: various

The two following items:
     228.   To the Largest Natural Tarn in the Lake District
     227.   La'al Ratty and Muncaster Fell
The two preceding items:
     225.   Garsdale
     224.   Around Anglezarke Reservoir
Two nearby items:
     229.   One Good Tarn Deserves Another Three
     107.   Along the Sands from Millom to Silecroft
A list of all items so far:
               Saunterings

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Top photo: Rainbow over Kisdon in Swaledale; Bottom photo: Ullswater