Unusual aspects of Lakeland
The name and fame of the Lakeland Terrier resonates throughout the world as the crowning glory of Lakeland farmers’ breeding achievements!
The appellation, Lakeland, was added to the breed only in modern times. Previously, the breed was known as the Patterdale Terrier.
In days gone by, the Lake District had many foxes that roamed the pens. The farmers would form a hunt with a couple of bloodhounds and a large number of terriers. This hunt was not a mere hobby. It involved heroism and skill on the part of man and beast to get out into the open and comb the area for foxes and destroy them.
The forays of the Lakeland Terriers with the man as faithful combatant in the hunt are legendary. Some have paid the ultimate price in the underground trenches; others have emerged victorious with battle marks on their bodies. The Lakeland Terrier’s body is no wider than its head. This allowed them to get into the trenches. With this frame they fulfilled their dangerous mission for their master and earned a name in canine history.
The ferocious courage of the Lakeland Terrier allowed it to explore some distance underground to catch up with the fox: in doing so, one of them earned a place in history. Lord Lonsdale’s terrier ran many yards deep to corner his prey; getting it out again required three days of manual labor! And some of these tenacious dogs have been rescued after ten or twelve days underground!
Although bred to work and with a history of many generations of work, they adapt quickly to shows. The fearlessness and courage of the terrier may no longer be needed, but he has a faithful and calm disposition as a canine companion.
There are many other unique aspects of Lakeland. For example: there is a dark side to the history of the lakes: the slave trade! A trade that benefited men in a way that shamed us all.
Storrs Hall is one of Windermere’s most spectacular hotels. This Georgian mansion was the work of renowned architect Joseph Gandy and owned by John Bolton, a Cumbrian who made a fortune from the slave trade. He raced the lake and entertained distinguished people, including Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott. Bolton’s ownership of one of the finest houses in England was a tribute to his involvement in the flourishing business of the slave trade at Whitehaven, a port on the Cumbrian coast.
A museum there, dubbed “The Rum Story,” tells the story of how rum and spirits merchants who lived in the Lake District owned plantations in the West Indies. His ships brought large amounts of rum, tobacco, and sugar to Whitehaven. But behind the fine quality of the dark rum, the excellence of the tobacco and the honeyed sweetness of the sugar, there was the blood, sweat and labor of the slaves.
One traveler who made several trips to the site in the days of slavery was William Wilberforce. He traveled from Hull (it took three weeks to get there) and stayed in a rented house called Rayrigg. He was the first abolitionist of all time. Much of his work on anti-slavery legislation was inspired by his travels to the Lake District. It was his work that ultimately emancipated slaves throughout the British Empire.
But let’s go ahead and examine more pleasant things! The nostalgic association with the Lake District’s Windermere at home might have prompted early explorers, missionaries and settlers to baptize the places they went with this romanticized Norse word. Consequently, there are Windermeres in Australia and New Zealand, in the Bahamas, the United States and Canada.
Perhaps geographical distance increased a deep-seated longing for home? Australia has a whopping thirty-four “Windermere” names. Victoria has a staggering eight Windermeres of one sort or another, mostly places, followed by Queensland which has seven. New South Wales has six Windermeres, South Australia and Tasmania have five. Western Australia has two Windermeres and the Australian Capital Territory has a representative one. New Zealand has at least nine Windermeres.
These startling statistics reveal how the English migrant carried the memory of the Lake District in their hearts even in the new land they made their home. The breathtaking view of Windermere in the Lake District perhaps lingered in the minds of pioneering Anglo-Saxon explorers and settlers, even in the remote Bahamas! So today we have a Windermere Island there! It is about five kilometers long and stands out for its splendid beaches, a paradise for all types of tourists.
The US has a proud list of eighteen important locations or buildings named Windermere. Canada has sixteen landforms named after Windermere.
So we can be sure of this: explorers, missionaries, and settlers all knew that the name Windermere represented stunning visual beauty at the time, just as it does today!