Bowness-on-Windermere
For other towns with the same or similar names, see Bowness.Bowness-on-Windermere (pronounced Bow.ness-on-Wind.eh.mere) is built on hilly terrain on the shores of
Windermere in
South Lakeland,
Cumbria,
England; while it has now grown together with the
town of Windermere (which, confusingly, does not actually touch the lake), the two still have distinguishable town centres.
Windermere railway station offers
train and
bus connections to the surrounding areas,
Manchester,
Manchester Airport, and the
West Coast Main Line, and is about a fifteen-minute walk from the lakefront. Both
Stagecoach and the local council provide frequent connecting buses from Bowness Pier; Stagecoach's open-top
double-decker buses travel through the centre of town and continue to
Ambleside and
Grasmere, while the council's
wheelchair-accessible
minibuses run around the edge of town.
The town's ancient parish church of St Martin [
1] was built in
1483, but of an older foundation. The former rectory is said to have been built in
1415.
Readers of
Arthur Ransome's
Swallows and Amazons and the following books will recognise Bowness as the lakeside town of 'Rio'. The collection at the
Windermere Steamboats & Museum [
2] on Rayrigg Road includes a Ransome exhibition with several boats relevant to his work.
Bowness-on-Windermere became a
civil parish in 1894 at the same time an
urban district council was formed for the town. The UDC merged with Windermere UDC in 1905 and the two civil parishes merged in 1974 under the name of Windermere. The civil parish is governed by a
town council.
|
The view from Bowness-on-Windermere on a cloudy day. |
*
Windermere (lake)*
Windermere (town)*
St Martin's Church, Bowness-on-Windermere*
Windermere Steamboats & Museum*
Windermere Online Windermere Online Community Website.
*
Bowness-on-Windermere guide
