"Amazing
Ambleside Facts"
by Year 4
Ambleside used to be called "Amelsait" by the Vikings
St Mary's church has a massive 180 foot hight spire. (Very big for such a small village)
There is a house in Ambleside built on a bridge. It is Ambleside's most famous landmark. I have heard that there are only 9 houses like this in the world. It was built to avoid paying land taxes! It has been used as an apple store, an office, a home for a large family, a weaver, a cobbler and a teashop.
Our School is one mile away from England's biggest lake, Windermere. It is 13 miles long.
Ambleside has been called the Anorak Capital of the world because in our small village there are 14 shops selling clothes and equipment for walkers & climbers.
William Wordsworth, the world famous poet, used to sell legal stamps in Ambleside. His office is now a hairdressers. He helped stop the railway reaching Ambleside and spoiling the peace and beauty.
The highest mountains in England are near our school. Scafell Pike is the tallest. It is 978 metres tall - over 3000 feet above sea level.
Ambleside is in the Lake District National Park. The biggest National Park in Britain.
Ambleside Sports, which has gone on for many years, features; fell running, wrestling and hound trails.
There is a contest in the Lake District called "gurning" where contestants win by pulling the most ugliest face. Some champions can put their nose in their mouth!
Kirkstone Foot Hotel is the highest inhabited building in England and is only a couple of miles from our school.
The blue/green slate, quarried in the lake District, is used for building all over the world. It is said that Bill Gates the computer billionaire bought £1,500,000 worth for his swimming pool!
There is an ancient Roman Fort called Galava on the outskirts of Ambleside. They mined for tin in the nearby hills.
You don't need music here. The sounds of nature beat any "Boyzone" or "Spice Girls." Some of the favourites are Wood Breeze, The lake lapping at the shore or bird songs.
Stock Ghyll falls. This waterfall is very close to Ambleside centre. It is in woods. The river used to power several wtaermills making bobbins from local wood or spinning wool from the local sheep.
Stone age residents used the hard stone from near Ambleside to make long lasting Stone axes. Some ancient stone age axes made from the Lake District stone have been found hundreds of miles away across Europe.
Some of the oldest rocks in the World are found near Ambleside. They are slates made from ash from ancient volcanoes.
Ambleside is at the heart of the English Lake District and is surrounded by high mountains.
One of the first recorded rock climbs was done near Ambleside in the 19th century. It was called "Napes Needle" and it is graded "Mild Severe" nowadays. When it was climbed pictures appeared in newspapers all over the world.
Ambleside Football Team has an advert in every Premier League football match programme.
Ambleside holds it's one tonne car pull championship from the town centre to the top of Kirkstone Pass every year. The last record was 51mins and 20 seconds set by the "Pioneers." The teams have to pull a one ton vehicle up a twisty 3 mile road famous for it's 1 in 3 gradient.
Bridge Street in Ambleside used to be called "Rattle Ghyll" because of the clanking noise made by the waterwheels.
Charlotte Mason College is in Ambleside and it is a famous teacher training college. It's founder, Charlotte Mason is a famous educator.
There is a "rushbearing" festival each year where reeds and rushes from the Lake side are brought to the Church to lay on the stone floor. This only happens in two other places in the world. It dates from Pre-Elizabethan days.
There is a famous rushbearing mural in the church made by an evacuee, who was sent to Cumbria to avoid the Blitz during World War 2.
Eller How, a house in Ambleside, used to have crocodiles in it's garden! - Crocodiles do not actually live in England in the wild so they must have been pets.
Ambleside's main industry nowadays is tourism.
There is a Roman Road that goes straight over the top of a high mountain nearby. They always built their roads in straight lines! - It is very steep and the mountain is called "High Street" to this day.
Ambleside has a harbour called Waterhead where steam ships take visitors for trips on the Lake.
The website of our small village school has won the two top awards for the best school websites in Britain!