Iron bridge?

River Eamont (Part 6)

Well, it was once an iron bridge, a Victorian multi span structure, but no longer. This is a new bridge, opened in 2011, after the original one was damaged beyond repair in the 2009 floods. It was a substantial investment, but a vital link in the local footpath network.
 
We are now further along the river. We did pass Sockbridge Mill, or former mill, and I blipped that a few days ago. It is possible to walk along the riverbank from Stainton to here and it is obviously a popular walk with locals. However, we got to the bridge from Sockbridge, the village you can just see across the fields on the right. In the picture you can see how powerful the river still is, taking all that water from Ullswater. It is quite high, but certainly not as high as it can be. It is also running very quickly. You can see how the surge of water has damaged the banks and made it very wide. Efforts have been made to protect the bank, as you can see in the foreground.
 
Sockbridge itself is an old settlement, parts of which date from Roman and Anglo-Saxon times. There is a substantial 17th Century house in the centre of the village, originally called Sockbridge House, but now known as Wordsworth House. Richard Wordsworth, the poet’s grandfather, bought it around 1723 and that’s how the family came to be living in this part of the country. I don’t know whether William Wordsworth ever lived there, or even visited it, but he did eventually inherit it from his older brother. He put in the hands of Trustees and it remained in the Wordsworth family until 1920, becoming at one point a school.
 
 Follow the tags to see other blips in this One River series.