Bampton

The Pub the Valley Saved

The Mardale Inn is a whitewashed pub that has been serving Bampton for over 150 years, though for most of that time it went by another name. Locals called it "The Bampton Jerry." Officially it was St Patrick's Well. Its present name recalls Mardale Green, the village later submerged beneath Haweswater. It closed in 2018, which in a valley this quiet could easily have been the end of it, and then in May 2022 more than 500 people bought it between them. It has been community-owned ever since, and it has made the CAMRA Good Beer Guide every year from 2024 to 2027.

The beer is local — real ales brewed within fifty miles — and the food is the kind you want after a day on the fells: sausage and mash, fish and chips, steak and ale pie, sticky toffee pudding. There are sharing plates and a Sunday roast, and the menu changes with the seasons using ingredients sourced nearby. From the windows you look out over the Bampton valley.

From Village Lane to High Fell

Bampton Valley Stores is the village shop, serving coffee and food close to the village centre. Beyond it, Bampton more or less runs out. The River Lowther meets Haweswater Beck here, and the village sits in a quiet, little-visited valley in the eastern Lake District, with the High Fell ridge rising to the south.

That ridge is where the longer walking is. High Street climbs to 828 metres and follows the line of a Roman road along a broad grassy summit; a published 5.6-mile circuit starts at the car park at the head of Haweswater, climbs via Long Stile and returns by Mardale Ill Bell and Nan Bield Pass. For an easier outing, follow the valley south towards Haweswater and its reservoir shore.

A Drowned Valley and an Old Church

At Haweswater, the valley's history comes into view. Manchester Corporation acquired land for the reservoir, and Mardale Green's church, inn, farms and homes were cleared before the valley was flooded in 1935. Water from Haweswater first reached Manchester in 1941 through a link to the Thirlmere aqueduct; the full Haweswater aqueduct was completed in 1955. In drought years, falling water reveals old roads, walls and building foundations.

St Patrick's Church in nearby Bampton Grange has stood on its site for 800 years. It was first mentioned in 1170, when it was attached to Shap Abbey, and it stayed attached until the Dissolution. The present building was largely rebuilt in 1726 and 27, then heavily restored in 1885 with a new oak-arcaded roof and a rebuilt chancel. Inside there are elegant oak pillars.

The Road into Bampton

Fellrunner's route 111 links Bampton with Penrith. The village has no railway station; drivers can arrive from Shap via the valley road or from Penrith via Askham.