ACROSS LAKELAND - A Northern Coast to Coast Walk: From St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay - page 37

which it divides. Branch right through the woodland, and finally go right
again at the rear of properties in Patterdale to emerge on the valley road
near the White Horse pub.
PATTERDALE
The dale that we today call Patterdale is said to be named after St Patrick, one of three
famous missionaries (the others were St Ninian and St Kentigern) believed by some to
have travelled in this region on evangelical missions during the early years of the fifth
century. Little is clear about the growth of Christianity at this time, for it was a troubled
era. The Roman Empire, preoccupied with problems at home, was withdrawing all Ro-
man units from its Cumbrian forts, and an intense period of tribal strife was to follow.
Patrick, thought to have been born in the Solway region around the year 389, was
raised in the Christian faith. At the age of 16 he had the misfortune, along with 'male
and female slaves of his father's house', to be captured by Irish pirates. He was taken
to Ireland where he was obliged to work as a cattle herd. During his time in captivity
his faith deepened until, after six years of slavery, he experienced visions and heard
angelic voices urging him to return to his own country to spread the word of Christ, a
calling which on his escape and return to England he dutifully obeyed, travelling far into
the mountains to convert the natives. Patterdale, St Patrick's Dale, is known to have
been an area of a well-established, if scattered, British settlement, and an obvious tar-
get for the young man's task, though there remains even today a strongly held view
that he never came near the place!
Looking down on Patterdale
The modern village, described in Baddeley's Guide to the English Lake District as 'one
of the most charmingly situated in Britain, and in itself clean and comely', lies at the
southern end of Ullswater. Unspoiled by the livelier atmosphere that draws non-walking
day-trippers to nearby Glenridding, Patterdale maintains a serene aloofness, content to
cater for those who come to enjoy the relative peace and quiet of its surroundings. Little
has changed here over the years. Encircled by rugged heights, and with the beauty of