Lake District Tarns: What a Tarn Is, and the Best Ones to Walk To
The big lakes get the boats, the cafés and the car parks. The tarns are where the Lake District goes quiet. Some sit in hollows a short walk from the road, ringed with trees. Others lie in high, dark bowls under crags, and you only reach them on foot after a proper climb. This guide explains what a tarn is and how the tarns came to be there, then takes you round the best of them, starting with the easiest.
What is a tarn?
A tarn is a small mountain lake. The word comes from the Old Norse tjörn, brought by the Norse settlers who farmed these valleys a thousand years ago, and it turns up in Cumbrian place names from the twelfth century onwards. For centuries it was a northern dialect word. The Lake Poets and the early geologists made it known everywhere else.
The Lake District has its own naming habits for water. The big lakes are "waters" or "meres", as in Wast Water or Windermere, and only one, Bassenthwaite Lake, actually has "Lake" in its name. "Tarn" is kept for the small ones, and especially for the high ones.
Most of the high tarns were made by ice. At the end of the last Ice Age, small glaciers sat in hollows on the fellsides and scooped them out into bowls called corries, with steep crags on three sides. When the ice melted, water filled the bowl, often held in by a bank of rubble the glacier had left at the lip. That is why so many tarns sit right under a cliff. Others are lower, gentler pools, and several were enlarged by people with small dams, for mills, mines or simply for the view.
Blea Water, above Haweswater, is the deepest tarn in the Lake District, at over 60 metres. Broad Crag Tarn, a small pool high on Scafell Pike at about 820 metres, is often said to be the highest standing water in England, though a few other high pools have rival claims.
Tarn Hows
The best known of all the tarns is partly man-made. Tarn Hows was once three small tarns. In the nineteenth century James Garth Marshall of the Monk Coniston estate built a dam that joined them into one sheet of water, and planted the woods that frame it. In 1930 Beatrix Potter bought the estate, and most of it passed to the National Trust, which looks after it today.
The walk: a level gravel path of just under two miles goes all the way round the water, from the National Trust car park above it. It suits wheelchairs and pushchairs, and the Trust has all-terrain mobility scooters to book. Allow an hour or two. Tarn Hows paintings and travel posters.
Blea Tarn, Langdale
Blea Tarn sits in a hanging valley between Great and Little Langdale, under Side Pike and Lingmoor Fell. Walk to its southern shore and the Langdale Pikes stand up across the water, which is one of the great sights of the Lakes. Wordsworth set part of The Excursion here, describing
A liquid pool that glittered in the sun,
And one bare dwelling; one abode, no more!
The one dwelling is still there: Blea Tarn House, on the far side of the water.
The walk: there is a small National Trust car park across the road from the tarn. A short path of compacted stone goes round the water and suits all-terrain mobility scooters. Allow an hour. Blea Tarn paintings and travel posters.
Loughrigg Tarn
Loughrigg Tarn is a small, round tarn at the foot of Loughrigg Fell, near Skelwith Bridge, with water lilies in summer and the Langdale Pikes on the skyline. Wordsworth likened it to the Italian lake known as Diana's Looking-glass, and called it "round, clear, and bright as heaven".
The walk: it is one of the lowest tarns in the Lakes, at under a hundred metres, and an easy walk from Skelwith Bridge or from Loughrigg Terrace above Grasmere. The paths are rough but not steep. Loughrigg Fell paintings.
Alcock Tarn, Grasmere
High above Grasmere on the side of Heron Pike, Alcock Tarn was once called Butter Crags Tarn. In the nineteenth century a Mr Alcock of Grasmere built a dam to enlarge it and stocked it with trout, and it has carried his name ever since. It is shallow, under two metres deep, but the view down to Grasmere is the reason to go.
The walk: a National Trust circuit of about three and three quarter miles leaves Grasmere past Dove Cottage and climbs beside Greenhead Gill. It is steep in places. Allow two to three hours.
Easedale Tarn
Easedale Tarn lies about two miles west of Grasmere, at around 280 metres, in a wide bowl between Tarn Crag and Blea Rigg. The outflow tumbles down to the valley as Sourmilk Gill, named for the milky white of its falls. The Victorians walked up in numbers, and a local man, Robert Hayton, built a refreshment hut by the water for them. It has long gone.
The walk: from Grasmere village, follow Easedale Road and then the path beside Sourmilk Gill. The paths are rocky and stepped, with a short steep section beside the falls. The round trip is about five to six miles. Grasmere paintings and prints.
Stickle Tarn, Langdale
Stickle Tarn sits at about 470 metres directly under the great cliff of Pavey Ark, with Harrison Stickle, one of the Langdale Pikes, to the west. A stone dam built in 1838 raised the water level. Look up at Pavey Ark and you can pick out Jack's Rake, the narrow ledge that climbs diagonally across the face. It is a scramble, not a walk, and only for those who know what they are doing.
The walk: start at the Stickle Ghyll car park by the National Trust's Sticklebarn in Great Langdale and follow Stickle Ghyll up. It is just over a mile each way but steep all the way, on pitched stone steps with a little easy scrambling near the top. Allow one and a half to two hours there and back. Pavey Ark paintings and Great Langdale paintings.
Angle Tarn: there are two
Two tarns share the name. The one above Patterdale, at about 480 metres, is a hook-shaped tarn with two small rocky islands and a peninsula, and it gives its name to Angletarn Pikes above it. Wainwright counted it among the best of the Lakeland tarns. It is a favourite with wild campers. The other Angle Tarn lies under Hanging Knotts on Bowfell, at about 560 metres. It is round and dark, and walkers pass it on their way up to Esk Hause.
The walks: for the Patterdale tarn, climb from Patterdale to Boredale Hause and follow the path south; the round trip is about seven kilometres and takes two and a half to three hours. For the Bowfell tarn, walk from the Old Dungeon Ghyll along Mickleden and climb Rossett Gill, which is steep and rough. Angletarn Pikes paintings.
Red Tarn, Helvellyn
Red Tarn lies at about 718 metres in the great bowl on the east side of Helvellyn, held between the two famous ridges, Striding Edge to the south and Swirral Edge to the north. It is about 25 metres deep. In the nineteenth century the miners of Greenside built a dam to raise it for water power; the dam has gone and the tarn is back to its natural size. It is one of the few places where the schelly, a rare whitefish, lives.
In 1805 a walker called Charles Gough fell to his death near here. When he was found three months later, his dog was still beside him. Both Wordsworth and Walter Scott wrote poems about it.
The walk: from Glenridding by Birkhouse Moor and the Hole-in-the-Wall, about ten kilometres there and back with 600 metres of climbing. It is a serious mountain walk. Helvellyn paintings and Striding Edge paintings.
Grisedale Tarn
Grisedale Tarn lies at about 538 metres in the pass between Fairfield, Dollywaggon Pike and Seat Sandal, on the old route between Grasmere and Patterdale. It is about 33 metres deep. Legend says the crown of Dunmail, the last king of Cumbria, was thrown into it after his death in battle.
It also holds a sadder, true story. On 29 September 1800 William and Dorothy Wordsworth said goodbye to their brother John near the tarn. He was a ship's captain, and he drowned when his ship was wrecked in 1805. A rock by the path, the Brothers' Parting Stone, carries lines from William's elegy.
The walk: about three miles from Mill Bridge, north of Grasmere, by Tongue Gill, or about five miles up Grisedale from Patterdale. Fairfield paintings.
Innominate Tarn, Haystacks
"Innominate" simply means unnamed. This small tarn on the rocky top of Haystacks, above Buttermere, was Alfred Wainwright's favourite place in the fells, and after his death in 1991 his ashes were scattered beside it, as he had asked. Great Gable and Pillar rise beyond it, and it is easy to see why he loved it.
The walk: from Gatesgarth at the head of Buttermere, climb to Scarth Gap and up the rocky ridge of Haystacks. It is a steep climb with some easy scrambling. Innominate Tarn paintings and Haystacks paintings.
Sprinkling Tarn and Styhead Tarn
Sprinkling Tarn, at about 600 metres under the crags of Great End, holds a weather record: in 1954 it took 6,527 millimetres of rain, the most ever measured in one calendar year in the United Kingdom. Styhead Tarn lies just below it, beside the path over Sty Head between Borrowdale and Wasdale. Both are on the main routes to Scafell Pike and Great Gable.
The walk: from Seathwaite at the head of Borrowdale, by Stockley Bridge and either Grains Gill or Styhead Gill. The round trip is about nine kilometres with 500 metres of climbing. Styhead Tarn paintings.
Watendlath, and its Blea Tarn
Watendlath is a hamlet of farm buildings round a tarn in a hanging valley above Borrowdale, owned by the National Trust and still farmed. Hugh Walpole made it the home of the heroine of his novel Judith Paris. The tarn's outflow runs down to Derwentwater over Lodore Falls.
The tarn is fed from above by another Blea Tarn, one of several tarns in the Lake District with that name. "Blea" is an old northern word for a dark, blue-grey colour, which on a dull day is exactly the colour of the water.
The walk: a single-track road climbs to Watendlath from the B5289, passing Ashness Bridge and Surprise View on the way. On foot, the old packhorse path from Rosthwaite takes about an hour. Borrowdale paintings and prints.
Levers Water and Low Water, Coniston
Above Coniston, the Coppermines Valley climbs to Levers Water, at about 410 metres. It was dammed in 1717 to supply water to the copper mines, and the old workings still scar the valley below. Low Water lies higher, in a hollow under the north face of the Old Man of Coniston, and the main path up the Old Man passes close by.
The walk: from Coniston up the Coppermines Valley to Levers Water and back is about four miles. Old Man of Coniston paintings.
Small Water and Blea Water, Haweswater
From the car park at Mardale Head, at the far end of Haweswater, two tarns are within easy reach. Small Water lies under Harter Fell and Mardale Ill Bell on the path to Nan Bield Pass, the old packhorse route to Kentmere, and tiny stone shelters stand beside the path on its shore. Blea Water sits in its own corrie under High Street. It is the deepest tarn in the Lake District, at over 60 metres.
The walk: Small Water is about an hour from Mardale Head. A round of both is about six and a half kilometres. High Street paintings.
Bowscale Tarn and Scales Tarn, in the north
Two corrie tarns in the Northern Fells come with old stories. Bowscale Tarn, on the north side of Bowscale Fell, was said to hold two fish that would never die. Wordsworth used the legend in his Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle:
And both the undying Fish that swim
Through Bowscale-Tarn did wait on him
The Victorians rode up to it on ponies, along the track from Bowscale hamlet near Mungrisdale, and the walk is about four miles there and back.
Scales Tarn lies at about 600 metres in a deep bowl under Sharp Edge on Blencathra. It was once said to be bottomless and so shaded that the sun never touched it. Walter Scott wrote of it that "never sunbeam could discern / The surface of that sable tarn". It is about two hours there and back from the White Horse Inn at Scales. Blencathra paintings.
Before you go
Tarns are cold all year, and the high ones are colder still. If you plan to swim, read our guide to wild swimming in the Lake District first. For the big waters, our guide to how many lakes there are in the Lake District goes through every one.
The tarns as map posters and paintings
Many of the tarns on this page are in our range of watercolour lake map posters: each one shows the true shape of the water with the contours of the fells around it. They come in three sizes, framed in black, white or natural wood:
- 30 x 40cm: £89.99
- 45 x 60cm: £119.99
- 50 x 70cm: £129.99
The paintings are sold as prints and canvases at 40cm, 70cm and 90cm, from £59.99 for an unframed print to £209.99 for a 90cm framed canvas, and panoramic canvases are £169.99 or £259.99. They are impressions of these places rather than photographs of them. Everything is made to order: printing takes 2-5 working days, then UK delivery takes 3-7 working days. Framed pieces arrive ready to hang.