Coniston Waters

Coniston Water is the fifth largest of the lakes, at five miles long, and with a maximum depth of 184 feet. It provided an important fish source for the monks of Furness Abbey who owned the lake and much of the surrounding land in the 13th and 14th Centuries.

More recently Coniston Water was used to transport slate and ore from the many mines worked in the Coppermines Valley above Coniston village. It has three small islands, all owned by the National Trust.

The boat trip around the head of the lake starts at Coniston Pier, proceeding anti-clockwise past Coniston Hall (a working farm owned by the National Trust) to Parkamoor (without stopping here).

The voyage then crosses the lake and continues northwards, with a “request stop” at Brantwood, the home of John Ruskin from 1871 until his death in 1900.