It’s been a while since I’ve shared an Industrial and Abandoned style post on my blog. The last was all the way back in January when we visited the Force Crag Mine near Braithwaite, north of Keswick. This next instalment is even further north on the very edges of the Lake District National Park.
It was a miserable day with low cloud base and rain forecast so, instead of heading out into the high fells we opted for a short walk to bag one of the smallest of the Wainwrights. This seems to be a bit of a running theme at the moment with all the rain that we’re having in Cumbria. Our Wainwright of choice on this occasion was Binsey. It is 192nd of the 214 so, that puts it into perspective. It’s 447m tall and is only a couple of km as a there and back route. However, it can also be done as part of a longer circuit that includes some interesting remains.
On the edges of Whittas Park is a wrought-iron ceiling support, hearth/fireplace and chimney. There is speculation on what this was for. Some believe that it was a lime kiln whilst others suggest the fireplace is too ornate for this to be the case. The most likely suggestion seems to be that this used to be a hunting lodge or a cottage dwelling for a shepherd. It’s embedded into the crag and is worth taking a look at.
There are two options:
- Park just off the A591 (Google Map Pin) and walk the short 0.5km to the chimney and then back to the car.
- Include this in a longer 7km circular route with Binsey. Find the route on Mappedometer here.
We did the slightly lazy option of driving between the two spots: we parked walked up Binsey and then drove to see the fireplace. We then headed on to Cockermouth for the afternoon which made for a lovely day out all in all!
This is only a short post but, this is nevertheless an interesting spot and a great way to spend an autumnal or wintery day in the Lake District!
Have you visited this spot?
Amie x
Explore with Amie 
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