But despite the defeat, the battle was a significant moment in the history of the conservation movement, both in the UK and globally. It inspired the formation of the National Trust and it brought to a head the appreciation of the vulnerability of the Lake District landscape, and public access to it.
Thirlmere is also greatly important to the Romantic writers and artists movement and was the location for the ‘Rock of Names’ - the customary meeting point for the Wordsworths and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and now reconstructed and relocated to Dove Cottage in Grasmere . Thirlmere was also the inspiration for William Wordsworth’s poem ‘The Waggoner’ and Walter Scott’s poem ‘The Bridal of Triermain’ and a place that continues to inspire visitors to this day.
Click here to see the full valley content from the World Heritage Site nomination document.